drive
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: American-football
aeronautics
aerospace
automotive
aviation
ball-games
baseball
business
commerce
computer-hardware
computing
cricket
engineering
football
games
golf
government
hobbies
human-sciences
lifestyle
mathematics
media
military
mining
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
psychology
publishing
retail
sciences
soccer
sports
tennis
transport
typography
vehicles
war
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *drībaną
Proto-West Germanic *drīban
Old English drīfan
Middle English driven
English drive
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: drives
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: driving
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: drove
pos: verb
tags: past
form: drave
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
form: driv
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
past
form: driven
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: druv
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
participle
past
form: drove
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
participle
past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: drive
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: drive
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: drove
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: driv
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
first-person
past
singular
form: drave
pos: verb
tags: archaic
first-person
past
singular
form: drive
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: drivest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: drove
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: driv
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
past
second-person
singular
form: drovest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: drave
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: dravest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: drives
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: driveth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: drove
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: driv
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
past
singular
third-person
form: drave
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
singular
third-person
form: drive
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: drove
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: driv
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
past
plural
form: drave
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
plural
form: drive
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: drove
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: driv
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
past
subjunctive
form: drave
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
subjunctive
form: drive
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: driving
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: driven
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: druv
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
participle
past
form: drove
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
participle
past
form: Dr.
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: drives
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: Dr.
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To operate a vehicle:
pos: verb
tags: ergative
transitive
examples: The bridges weren't strong enough to drive (campers) over.
This SUV drives insanely smoothly—it's like it knows what I want before I do.
gloss: To operate a vehicle:
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I drive to work every day.
gloss: To operate a vehicle:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: My cousin drove me to the airport.
gloss: To operate a vehicle:
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
examples: drive a 737
gloss: To operate a vehicle:
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: There is a litter ready; lay him in’t
And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection.
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.
gloss: To compel to move:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to drive twenty thousand head of cattle from Texas to the Kansas railheads; to drive sheep out of a field
gloss: To compel to move:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The hunting dog drove the birds out of the tall grass.
We'll drive the enemy from these lands once and for all.
gloss: To cause to move by the application of physical force:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: You drive nails into wood with any hammer; it's not as strenuous as driving a tunnel through the rock.
Moving very quietly, I crept up the stairs, and at the top drove one drawing-pin into the lintel about a foot up, another at the same height into the baluster opposite […]
gloss: To cause to move by the application of physical force:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The pistons drive the crankshaft.
gloss: To cause to move by the application of physical force:
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To cause to move by the application of physical force:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To displace either physically or non-physically, through the application of force.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;
Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.
gloss: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: My husband's constant harping about the condition of the house threatens to drive me to distraction.
gloss: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: What drives a person to run a marathon?
gloss: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Their debts finally drove them to sell the business.
He driuen to dismount, threatned, if I did not the like, to doo as much for my horse, as Fortune had done for his.
But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
Environ you, till mischief and despair
Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!
gloss: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: This constant complaining is going to drive me insane.
You are driving me crazy!
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.
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.
gloss: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Frothing at the mouth and threatening expulsion, Coach relentlessly drove the team to more laps of the pitch.
[…] 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.
gloss: To compel to undergo a non-physical change:
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The negotiations were driven to completion minutes before the final deadline.
If you drive yourself so much, you'll end up having a breakdown.
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...
gloss: To move forcefully.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: […] Unequal match’d,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide;
Thus while the Pious Prince his Fate bewails,
Fierce Boreas drove against his flying Sails.
And rent the Sheets […]
Time driveth onward fast,
And in a little while our lips are dumb.
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 […]
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.
The impressive Frenchman drove forward with purpose down the right before cutting infield and darting in between Vassiriki Diaby and Koscielny.
gloss: To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: […] as a duck for life that dives,
So up and down the poor ship drives:
[…] the Captain […] order’d the Cable to be cut, and let the Ship drive nearer the Land, where she soon beat to pieces:
gloss: To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: You know the Trade of Life can’t be driven without Partners; there is a reciprocal Dependance between the Greatest and the Least.
gloss: To clear, by forcing away what is contained.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: We come not with design of wastful Prey,
To drive the Country, force the Swains away:
gloss: To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.
pos: verb
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
gloss: To put together a drive (n.): to string together offensive plays and advance the ball down the field.
pos: verb
gloss: To distrain for rent.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
gloss: To be the dominant party in a sex act.
pos: verb
gloss: Planned, usually long-lasting, effort to achieve something; ability coupled with ambition, determination, and motivation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Crassus had wealth and wit, but Pompey had drive and Caesar as much again.
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.
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.
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.
I can make money from the comfort of my sofa / So much drive, now I gotta get a chauffeur
gloss: Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; (especially) a forced or hurried dispatch of business.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The Murdstonian drive in business.
gloss: An act of driving (prompting) animals forward.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
uncountable
examples: Are you all ready?’ he cried, and set off towards the dead ash where the drive would begin.
gloss: An act of driving (prompting) animals forward.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
uncountable
gloss: A sustained advance in the face of the enemy to take an objective.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Napoleon's drive on Moscow was as determined as it was disastrous.
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.
gloss: Certain mechanisms in vehicles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: steam drive, nuclear drive, chain drive, rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, front-wheel drive
Some old model trains have clockwork drives.
A universal joint shaft takes the drive to the final drive unit mounted centrally on one of the axles.
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:
gloss: Certain mechanisms in vehicles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: left-hand drive, right-hand drive
gloss: Certain mechanisms in vehicles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: An act of piloting or riding within a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The drive this morning was awful due to snow and ice.
gloss: An act of piloting or riding within a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: It was a long drive to Santa Fe.
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.
gloss: An act of piloting or riding within a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: We like to go for a drive on Sunday afternoons.
gloss: Certain surfaces for driving on.
pos: noun
tags: countable
dated
uncountable
gloss: Certain surfaces for driving on.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The mansion had a long, tree-lined drive.
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.
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.
I listen for your footsteps coming up the drive / Listen for your footsteps, but they don't arrive
gloss: Certain surfaces for driving on.
pos: noun
tags: capitalized
countable
uncountable
examples: Beverly Hills’ most famous street is Rodeo Drive.
gloss: Desire or interest.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
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.
gloss: A device for reading and writing data.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A device for reading and writing data.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The state of being under pressure, stressed and hurried.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I suffered under the intense drive of my new job.
gloss: A stroke made with a driver.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A ball struck in a flat trajectory.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: a long drive
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A straight level shot or pass.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: An offensive possession, generally one consisting of several plays and/ or first downs, often leading to a scoring opportunity.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: a fund-raising drive
a whist drive
a beetle drive
gloss: A campaign aimed at selling or promoting (something).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: vaccination drive
gloss: An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A collection of objects that are driven.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A collection of objects that are driven.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Friendly term of address for a bus driver.
pos: noun
tags: UK
countable
slang
uncountable
examples: Yeah, thanks, drive!
You boyz all goin' shoppin'?
We are, drive, says Chip.
The coaches dropped us where we had begun, outside the chapel; each child in turn piping up, 'Thank you, drive!' as we disembarked.
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.
'Cheers, Drive!' said Dylan as they climbed off the bus.
Related words: drave
drift
drove
Derived words: 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 a truck through something
drive away
driveaway
drive a wedge
drive a wedge between
drive back
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
driveline
drive-line
driven
driven element
drive-off
drive off
drive-on
drive one's pigs to market
drive out
drive-pipe
drivepipe
driver
drive-screw
driveshaft
drive-shaft
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
drivethrough
drive-through
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
FTL drive
hard-driving
I don't drive
impossible drive
let drive
misdrive
outdrive
piledrive
reaction drive
redrive
self-drive
self-driving
space drive
todrive
underdrive
overdrive
wardrive
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
direct drive
disc drive
diskette drive
driveless
drive letter
drivelike
drive sale
drive shaft
drive shed
drive-shed
drive-time
drive train
drive truck
drive unit
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
MO drive
molecular drive
multidrive
non-Newtonian drive
off drive
on drive
optical disc drive
optical disk drive
optical drive
Orion drive
pen drive
prey drive
reactionless drive
rear-wheel drive
screw drive
servo drive
slot-loading disc drive
solid-state drive
spacedrive
square drive
stardrive
star drive
star-drive
sterndrive
storage drive
Sussex Drive
take for a drive
tape drive
test drive
thumb drive
top drive
torch drive
two-wheel drive
ultradrive
USB drive
virtual drive
war-drive
WORM drive
worm drive
Zip drive
Translations:
lang: Dutch
word: drijven
lang: Finnish
word: ajo
lang: Finnish
word: paimentaminen
lang: Finnish
word: ajaminen
lang: Finnish
word: paimennus
lang: Hungarian
word: hajtás
lang: Hungarian
word: terelés
lang: Hungarian
word: hajtóvadászat
lang: Māori
word: whiunga
lang: Turkish
word: sürme
lang: Hungarian
word: rönkgörgeteg
lang: Hungarian
word: rönktömeg
lang: Turkish
word: sürü