drive
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: drīv
ipa: /dɹaɪv/
ipa: [d̠ɹ̠ ̝(ʷ)aɪv]
ipa: [d͡ʒɹaɪv]
rhymes: -aɪv
Forms: form: drives
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: Crassus had wealth and wit, but Pompey had drive and Caesar as much again.
text: As we contemplate the half-finished arterial roads and electrification plans of our own age, and the town-planning schemes that gather dust in the public libraries, we can admire the drive and action of the railway pioneers.
ref: 1951 December, Michael Robbins, “John Francis's "History of the English Railway"”, in Railway Magazine, page 800:
text: I confess that the sight of my minute man ahead, getting closer and closer, gives me a little more drive even when I think I am going as fast as I can.
ref: 1986, Fred Matheny, Solo Cycling: How to Train and Race Bicycle Time Trials, page 136:
text: Although British involvement in the slave trade prior to 1807 cannot be denied, or its effects diminished, it is also a fact that the Royal Navy was pretty much the only force in the world in the 19th century with the numbers, drive, willingness, firepower, and capability to curtail the global slave trade, and that, without these efforts, many more would no doubt have been taken to slave plantations and other such destinations during the 19th, and possibly even into the 20th, centuries, as it must be remembered that a great many European powers would only begrudgingly commit to ending the slave trade when the other option was continuous war with the British Empire.
ref: 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 11:37 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024:
synonyms: ambition
grit
push
verve
motivation
get-up-and-go
self-motivation
antonyms: inertia
lack of motivation
laziness
phlegm
sloth
glosses: Planned, usually long-lasting, effort to achieve something; ability coupled with ambition, determination, and motivation.
examples: text: The Murdstonian drive in business.
ref: 1881, Matthew Arnold, The Incompatibles:
glosses: Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; (especially) a forced or hurried dispatch of business.
examples: text: Are you all ready?’ he cried, and set off towards the dead ash where the drive would begin.
ref: 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 79:
glosses: An act of driving (prompting) animals forward.
An act of driving game animals forward, to be captured or hunted.
glosses: An act of driving (prompting) animals forward.
An act of driving livestock animals forward, to transport a herd.
synonyms: drove#Noun
drift#Noun
examples: text: Napoleon's drive on Moscow was as determined as it was disastrous.
text: On the other hand, in Eritrea (once our Forces had recaptured Kassala on January 19) the drive was generally eastward towards the capital, Asmara, and the Red Sea port of Massaua.
ref: 1941 August, Charles E. Lee, “Railways of Italian East Africa—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 340:
topics: government
military
politics
war
synonyms: attack
push
glosses: A sustained advance in the face of the enemy to take an objective.
examples: text: a typical steam drive
text: a nuclear drive
text: chain drive
text: front-wheel drive
text: Some old model trains have clockwork drives.
text: Heat engine-electric hybrid vehicles : The hybrid vehicle on which most development work has been done to date is the one that couples a heat engine with an electric drive system. The objective remains the same as it was in 1900:
ref: 2001, Michael Hereward Westbrook, The Electric Car, IET, →ISBN, page 146:
synonyms: gear
engine
glosses: A mechanism used to power or give motion to a vehicle or other machine or machine part.
examples: text: It was a long drive.
text: We merely waited to rouse good Mrs. Vesey from the place which she still occupied at the deserted luncheon-table, before we entered the open carriage for our promised drive.
ref: 1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White:
synonyms: ride
spin
trip
glosses: A trip made in a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).
examples: text: The mansion had a long, tree-lined drive.
text: We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: Halfway from Hellingly Station, the railway enters the well-kept hospital grounds, and runs parallel with a tree-lined drive about half a mile long.
ref: 1957 December 23, H. R. Stones, “The Hellingly Hospital Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 871:
synonyms: approach
driveway
glosses: A driveway.
examples: text: Beverly Hills’ most famous street is Rodeo Drive.
synonyms: avenue
boulevard
road
street
glosses: A type of public roadway.
examples: text: Normally you should be in drive, although you can select a lower gear such as 2 or 1 for certain conditions, such as prolonged downhill stretches.
topics: automotive
transport
vehicles
glosses: The gear into which one usually shifts an automatic transmission when one is driving a car or truck. (Denoted with symbol D on a shifter's labeling.)
glosses: A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.
examples: 1995 March 2, John Carman, "Believe It, You Saw It in Sweeps", SFGate http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Believe-It-You-Saw-It-In-Sweeps-3043091.php
On the latter show, former Playboy Playmate Carrie Westcott said she'd never met a man who could match her sexual drive.
topics: human-sciences
psychology
sciences
synonyms: desire
impetus
impulse
urge
glosses: Desire or interest.
topics: computer-hardware
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
synonyms: disk drive
glosses: An apparatus for reading and writing data to or from a mass storage device such as a disk.
topics: computer-hardware
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A mass storage device in which the mechanism for reading and writing data is integrated with the mechanism for storing data.
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A stroke made with a driver.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
tennis
glosses: A ball struck in a flat trajectory.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A type of shot played by swinging the bat in a vertical arc, through the line of the ball, and hitting it along the ground, normally between cover and midwicket.
examples: text: And after Rodallega missed two early opportunities, the first a header, the second a low drive easily held by Lukasz Fabianski, it was N'Zogbia who created the opening goal.
ref: 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2-2 Arsenal”, in BBC:
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
soccer
sports
glosses: A straight level shot or pass.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: An offensive possession, generally one consisting of several plays and/ or first downs, often leading to a scoring opportunity.
examples: text: a whist drive
text: a beetle drive
glosses: A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive.
examples: text: vaccination drive
topics: business
commerce
retail
glosses: A campaign aimed at selling more of a certain product or promoting a public service.
topics: media
publishing
typography
glosses: An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.
glosses: A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.
examples: text: Yeah, thanks, drive!
You boyz all goin' shoppin'?
We are, drive, says Chip.
ref: 2017 March 21, Leonora Brito, Dat's Love and Other Stories, Parthian Books, →ISBN:
text: The coaches dropped us where we had begun, outside the chapel; each child in turn piping up, 'Thank you, drive!' as we disembarked.
ref: 2017 July 1, Huw Lewis, To Hear the Skylark's Song, Parthian Books, →ISBN:
text: Soon every stop on every route was once again punctuated by rounds of 'Cheers drive! Cheers drive! Cheers drive!' And with this little nicety reinstated, all was relatively well in Bristol town.
ref: 2018 June 28, Wilf Merttens, Bristol Urban Legends: The Hotwells Crocodile and Other Stories, The History Press, →ISBN:
text: 'Cheers, Drive!' said Dylan as they climbed off the bus.
ref: 2019 May 30, Ed Clarke, The Secret Dragon, Penguin UK, →ISBN:
qualifier: especially Bristol and Wales
glosses: Friendly term of address for a bus driver.
Hyponyms: blood drive
Blu-ray drive
bridge drive
disk drive
flash drive
floppy drive
food drive
four-wheel drive
four-wheel-drive
hard drive
jump drive
key drive
left-hand drive
reduction drive
right-hand drive
sex drive
Shkadov drive
toy drive
warp drive
zip drive
Zip drive
Derived terms: Alcubierre drive
all-wheel drive
beetle drive
belt-drive
belt drive
bottle drive
cassette drive
cattle drive
cattle-drive
CD drive
chain drive
Chinese drive
compact disc drive
constant speed drive
counterdrive
cover drive
Dean drive
death drive
disc drive
disinformation drive
diskette drive
driveless
drive letter
drivelike
drive sale
drive shaft
drive shed
drive-shed
drive-time
drive train
drive truck
drive-volley
drive wheel
drive-whist
DVD drive
feed drive
final drive
fixed disc drive
fixed disk drive
fixed drive
floppy disc drive
floppy disk drive
floppy diskette drive
French drive
front-wheel drive
game drive
gene drive
Geneva drive
hard disc drive
hard disk drive
Harrow drive
HD DVD drive
hyperdrive
hyperspace drive
information drive
kelly drive
lamington drive
line drive
line-out drive
lofted drive
log drive
MD drive
memory drive
microdrive
mid-drive
misinformation drive
MO drive
molecular drive
multidrive
non-Newtonian drive
off drive
on drive
optical disc drive
optical disk drive
optical drive
Orion drive
overdrive
pen drive
prey drive
reactionless drive
rear-wheel drive
screw drive
servo drive
slot-loading disc drive
solid-state drive
spacedrive
square drive
star-drive
star drive
stardrive
sterndrive
Sussex Drive
take for a drive
tape drive
test drive
thumb drive
top drive
torch drive
two-wheel drive
ultradrive
USB drive
wardrive
war-drive
WORM drive
worm drive
Zip drive