drive
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: drīv
ipa: /dɹaɪv/
ipa: [d̠ɹ̠ ̝(ʷ)aɪv]
ipa: [d͡ʒɹaɪv]
rhymes: -aɪv
Forms: form: drives
form: driving
form: drove
form: drave
form: driv
form: driven
form: druv
form: drove
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: drive
form: drive
form: drove
form: driv
form: drave
form: drive
form: drivest
form: drove
form: driv
form: drovest
form: drave
form: dravest
form: drives
form: driveth
form: drove
form: driv
form: drave
form: drive
form: drove
form: driv
form: drave
form: drive
form: drove
form: driv
form: drave
form: drive
form: -
form: driving
form: driven
form: druv
form: drove
form: Dr.
Etymology: From Middle English driven, from Old English drīfan (“to drive, force, move”), from Proto-West Germanic *drīban, from Proto-Germanic *drībaną (“to drive”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots drive (“to drive”), Yola dhreeve, dhrive, dreeve, drieve, drive (“to drive”), North Frisian driiv, driiw, driwe (“to drive”), West Frisian driuwe (“to drive; to float”), Alemannic German triibe (“to drive”), Dutch drijven (“to drive, push”), German treiben (“to drive, push, propel”), Low German drieven (“to drive, drift, push”), Luxembourgish dreiwen (“to drive, propel”), Yiddish טרײַבן (traybn, “to drive”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål drive (“to drive, propel”), Icelandic drífa (“to drive”), Norwegian Nynorsk driva, drive (“to drive, move; to propel; to run”), Swedish driva (“to drive, compel; to drift; to run”), Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (dreiban, “to drive”).
Senses: examples: text: The bridges weren't strong enough to drive (campers) over.
text: This SUV drives insanely smoothly—it's like it knows what I want before I do.
glosses: To operate a vehicle:
To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).
synonyms: ride
hyponyms: test-drive
examples: text: I drive to work every day.
glosses: To operate a vehicle:
To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.
synonyms: motorvate
examples: text: My cousin drove me to the airport.
glosses: To operate a vehicle:
To convey (a person, etc.) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.
synonyms: take
examples: text: drive a 737
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To operate a vehicle:
To operate (an aircraft); to pilot.
synonyms: fly
pilot
examples: text: There is a litter ready; lay him in’t
And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection.
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:
text: We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: To operate a vehicle:
To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.
examples: text: to drive twenty thousand head of cattle from Texas to the Kansas railheads; to drive sheep out of a field
glosses: To compel to move:
(especially of animals) To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.
synonyms: drove
goad
herd
examples: text: The hunting dog drove the birds out of the tall grass.
text: We'll drive the enemy from these lands once and for all.
glosses: To compel to move:
(especially animals) To cause to flee out of.
synonyms: flush
flush out
scare up
examples: text: You drive nails into wood with any hammer; it's not as strenuous as driving a tunnel through the rock.
text: If you drive yourself so much, you'll end up having a breakdown.
glosses: To cause to move by the application of physical force:
To provide an impetus for motion or other physical change, to move an object by means of the provision of force thereto.
synonyms: force
push
examples: text: The pistons drive the crankshaft.
glosses: To cause to move by the application of physical force:
To cause (a mechanism) to operate.
synonyms: move
operate
topics: ball-games
baseball
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
tennis
glosses: To cause to move by the application of physical force:
To hit the ball with a drive.
glosses: To cause to move by the application of physical force:
To separate the lighter (feathers or down) from the heavier, by exposing them to a current of air.
examples: text: One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;
Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.
ref: c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:
glosses: To displace either physically or non-physically, through the application of force.
examples: text: My husband's constant harping about the condition of the house threatens to drive me to distraction.
glosses: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
To provide an impetus for a change in one's situation or state of mind.
examples: text: What drives a person to run a marathon?
glosses: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
To motivate; to provide an incentive for.
synonyms: word: impel
word: incentivise
word: incentivize
word: push
word: urge
word: abet
word: actuate
word: goose
word: send
word: sting
word: bring about
word: cheer
word: drive
word: encourage
word: egg on
word: engender
word: evoke
word: excite
word: foment
word: goad
word: grill
word: ignite
word: impel
word: incite
word: induce
word: inflame
word: instigate
word: invoke
word: lash
word: motive
word: motivate
word: move
word: obligate
word: oblige
word: push
word: promote
word: prompt
word: provoke
word: rouse
word: set off
word: spark off
word: spur
word: spur on
word: stimulate
word: stir
word: stir up
word: stoke
word: tempt
word: urge
word: whet
word: whip up
examples: text: Their debts finally drove them to sell the business.
text: He driuen to dismount, threatned, if I did not the like, to doo as much for my horse, as Fortune had done for his.
ref: c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
english: The New Arcadia
translation: The New Arcadia
text: But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
Environ you, till mischief and despair
Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:
glosses: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
To compel, exert pressure, coerce (to do something).
synonyms: compel
force
oblige
push
require
examples: text: This constant complaining is going to drive me insane.
text: You are driving me crazy!
text: 1855, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Maud, XXV, 1. in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, p. 90,
And then to hear a dead man chatter
Is enough to drive one mad.
text: One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
To cause to become.
synonyms: make
send
render
examples: text: Frothing at the mouth and threatening expulsion, Coach relentlessly drove the team to more laps of the pitch.
text: […] Demosthenes desired them first to put in at Pylos and not to proceed on their voyage until they had done what he wanted. They objected, but it so happened that a storm came on and drove them into Pylos.
ref: 1881, “Thucydides”, in Benjamin Jowett, transl., History of the Peloponnesian War, Oxford: Clarendon, Volume I, Book 4, p. 247:
glosses: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
To motivate through the application or demonstration of force; to impel or urge onward in such a way.
synonyms: word: coerce
word: intimidate
word: threaten
word: buffalo
word: bulldoze
word: bully
word: browbeat
word: cow
word: dastardize
word: daunt
word: dishearten
word: do down
word: domineer
word: drive
word: hector
word: intimidate
word: menace
word: strong-arm
examples: text: The negotiations were driven to completion minutes before the final deadline.
text: And now we're waiting for the very same people to establish GBR, drive through urgently needed fares reform, and come up with imaginative and effective train operating contracts...
ref: 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:
glosses: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.
examples: text: […] Unequal match’d,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide;
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
text: Thus while the Pious Prince his Fate bewails,
Fierce Boreas drove against his flying Sails.
And rent the Sheets […]
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, lines 146-148:
text: Time driveth onward fast,
And in a little while our lips are dumb.
ref: 1833, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, page 113:
text: Charles, ill in body and mind, and glad to escape from his enemies under cover of the night and a driving tempest, was at length compelled to sign the treaty of Passau […]
ref: 1855, William H[ickling] Prescott, chapter 1, in History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, book I, page 7:
text: It would seem they were regarding this new antagonist with astonishment. To their intelligence, it may be, the giant was even such another as themselves. The Thunder Child fired no gun, but simply drove full speed towards them. It was probably her not firing that enabled her to get so near the enemy as she did. They did not know what to make of her. One shell, and they would have sent her to the bottom forthwith with the Heat-Ray.
ref: 1898, H.G. Wells, “The "Thunder Child."”, in The War of the Worlds, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, retrieved 24 Nov 2022, page 175:
text: The impressive Frenchman drove forward with purpose down the right before cutting infield and darting in between Vassiriki Diaby and Koscielny.
ref: 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2-2 Arsenal”, in BBC:
synonyms: onrush
plough
glosses: To move forcefully.
examples: text: […] as a duck for life that dives,
So up and down the poor ship drives:
ref: c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act III, prologue]:
text: […] the Captain […] order’d the Cable to be cut, and let the Ship drive nearer the Land, where she soon beat to pieces:
ref: 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, page 12:
glosses: To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).
examples: text: You know the Trade of Life can’t be driven without Partners; there is a reciprocal Dependance between the Greatest and the Least.
ref: 1694, Jeremy Collier, “Of General Kindness”, in Miscellanies in Five Essays, London: Sam. Keeble & Jo. Hindmarsh, page 69:
synonyms: continue
carry on
pursue
glosses: To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.
examples: text: We come not with design of wastful Prey,
To drive the Country, force the Swains away:
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, lines 744-745:
synonyms: empty
evacuate
void
glosses: To clear, by forcing away what is contained.
examples: 1852-1866, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures
If the miners find no ore, they drive or cut a gallery from the pit a short distance at right angles to the direction of the lodes found
topics: business
mining
synonyms: tunnel
glosses: To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To put together a drive (n.): to string together offensive plays and advance the ball down the field.
glosses: To distrain for rent.
synonyms: dominate
glosses: To be the dominant party in a sex act.
Derived terms: back-seat drive
bedrive
codrive
daily drive
don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly
drink and drive
drivable
driveable
drive a coach and horses through
drive a coach and six through
drive a hard bargain
drive a nail in someone's coffin
drive a nail where it will go
drive a stake through its heart
drive at
drive away
driveaway
drive a wedge
drive a wedge between
drive-boat
drivebolt
drive-bolt
drive-by
drive by
drive-by-wire
drive down
drivee
drivehead
drive home
drive-in
drive in
drive-in drive-out
drive into the ground
drive Irish tandem
drive-line
driveline
driven
driven element
drive-off
drive off
drive-on
drive one's pigs to market
drive out
drivepipe
drive-pipe
driver
drive-screw
drive-shaft
driveshaft
driveshed
drive someone crazy
drive someone insane
drive someone mad
drive someone nuts
drive someone to drink
drive someone to the wall
drive someone up the wall
drive something into the ground
drive stick
drive the porcelain bus
drive-through
drivethrough
drive-through penalty
drive-thru
drive time
drive to distraction
drive to drink
drivetrain
drive-train
drive up
drive-wheel
drive-yourself
driving
drivingly
fordrive
hard-driving
I don't drive
let drive
misdrive
outdrive
overdrive
piledrive
redrive
self-drive
self-driving
todrive
underdrive
wardrive
Related terms: drave
drift
drove