drive

drive a car

This SUV drives insanely smoothly—it's like it knows what I want before I do.

(transitive, ergative) To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).

To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).

I drive to work every day.

(intransitive) To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.

To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.

My cousin drove me to the airport.

(transitive) To convey (a person, etc.) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.

To convey (a person, etc.) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.

drive a 737

(transitive, slang, aviation) To operate (an aircraft); to pilot.

To operate a vehicle:
To operate (an aircraft); to pilot.

There is a litter ready; lay him in’t
And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
Both welcome and protection.

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]:

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.

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:

(transitive, intransitive) To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.

To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.

to drive twenty thousand head of cattle from Texas to the Kansas railheads; to drive sheep out of a field

(transitive) (especially of animals) To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.

The hunting dog drove the birds out of the tall grass.

We'll drive the enemy from these lands once and for all.

(transitive) (especially animals) To cause to flee out of.

(especially animals) To cause to flee out of.

You drive nails into wood with any hammer; it's not as strenuous as driving a tunnel through the rock.

If you drive yourself so much, you'll end up having a breakdown.

To cause to move by the application of physical force:

(transitive) To provide an impetus for motion or other physical change, to move an object by means of the provision of force thereto.

To cause to move by the application of physical force:

The pistons drive the crankshaft.

(transitive) To cause (a mechanism) to operate.

(intransitive, sports, cricket, tennis, baseball) To hit the ball with a drive.

(transitive) To separate the lighter (feathers or down) from the heavier, by exposing them to a current of air.

One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;
Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.

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]:

(transitive) To displace either physically or non-physically, through the application of force.

My husband's constant harping about the condition of the house threatens to drive me to distraction.

To compel to undergo a non-physical change:

(transitive) To provide an impetus for a change in one's situation or state of mind.

To compel to undergo a non-physical change:

What drives a person to run a marathon?

(transitive) To motivate; to provide an incentive for.

To motivate; to provide an incentive for.

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.

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:

But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
Environ you, till mischief and despair
Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!

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]:

(transitive) To compel, exert pressure, coerce (to do something).

To compel, exert pressure, coerce (to do something).

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.

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:

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.

1881, “Thucydides”, in Benjamin Jowett, transl., History of the Peloponnesian War, Oxford: Clarendon, Volume I, Book 4, p. 247:

(transitive) To motivate through the application or demonstration of force; to impel or urge onward in such a way.

The negotiations were driven to completion minutes before the final deadline.

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...

2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:

(transitive) To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.

To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.

[…] Unequal match’d,
Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide;

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]:

Thus while the Pious Prince his Fate bewails,
Fierce Boreas drove against his flying Sails.
And rent the Sheets […]

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:

Time driveth onward fast,
And in a little while our lips are dumb.

1833, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, page 113:

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 […]

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:

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.

1898, H.G. Wells, “The "Thunder Child."”, in The War of the Worlds, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, retrieved 2022-11-24, page 175:

The impressive Frenchman drove forward with purpose down the right before cutting infield and darting in between Vassiriki Diaby and Koscielny.

2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2-2 Arsenal”, in BBC:

[…] as a duck for life that dives,
So up and down the poor ship drives:

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]:

[…] the Captain […] order’d the Cable to be cut, and let the Ship drive nearer the Land, where she soon beat to pieces:

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:

(intransitive) To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).

To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).

You know the Trade of Life can’t be driven without Partners; there is a reciprocal Dependance between the Greatest and the Least.

1694, Jeremy Collier, “Of General Kindness”, in Miscellanies in Five Essays, London: Sam. Keeble & Jo. Hindmarsh, page 69:

(transitive) To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.

To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.

We come not with design of wastful Prey,
To drive the Country, force the Swains away:

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:

(transitive) To clear, by forcing away what is contained.

To clear, by forcing away what is contained.

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

(mining) To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.

To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.

(American football) To put together a drive (n.): to string together offensive plays and advance the ball down the field.

en-verb

drive (third-person singular simple present drives, present participle driving, simple past drove or (archaic) drave or (dialectal) driv, past participle driven or (dialectal) druv or (dialectal) drove)

drives (present singular third-person)
driving (participle present)
drove (past)
drave (archaic past)
driv (dialectal past)
driven (participle past)
druv (dialectal participle past)
drove (dialectal participle past)
drive (infinitive)
drive (first-person present singular)
drove (first-person past singular)
driv (dialectal first-person past singular)
drave (archaic first-person past singular)
drive (present second-person singular)
drivest (archaic present second-person singular)
drove (past second-person singular)
driv (dialectal past second-person singular)
drovest (archaic past second-person singular)
drave (archaic past second-person singular)
dravest (archaic past second-person singular)
drives (present singular third-person)
driveth (archaic present singular third-person)
drove (past singular third-person)
driv (dialectal past singular third-person)
drave (archaic past singular third-person)
drive (plural present)
drove (past plural)
driv (dialectal past plural)
drave (archaic past plural)
drive (present subjunctive)
drove (past subjunctive)
driv (dialectal past subjunctive)
drave (archaic past subjunctive)
drive (imperative present)
driving (participle present)
driven (participle past)
druv (dialectal participle past)
drove (dialectal participle past)
Dr. (alternative)

don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly

→ Russian: драйв (drajv)

→ Scottish Gaelic: draibh

→ Ukrainian: драйв (drajv)

ngar

to operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle)

во́зя се

to travel by operating a motorized vehicle

во́зя

to convey (a person, etc) in a wheeled motorized vehicle

drijven

to direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal

سَاقَ

to impel or urge (especially animals) onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on

سَاقَ

to move (something) by hitting it with great force

drajvi

(cricket, tennis, baseball) to hit the ball with a drive

kiszorít

to displace either physically or non-physically, through the application of force

ка́рам

to motivate; to provide an incentive for

trascinare

to be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship)

[d̠ɹ̠ ̝ʷaɪv]

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”), North Frisian driwe (“to drive”), Saterland Frisian drieuwe (“to drive”), West Frisian driuwe (“to chase, drive, impel”), Dutch drijven (“to drive”), Low German drieven (“to drive, drift, push”), German treiben (“to drive, push, propel”), Norwegian Bokmål drive, Danish drive (“to drive, run, force”), Norwegian Nynorsk driva, Swedish driva (“to drive, power, drift, push, force”), Icelandic drífa (“to drive, hurry, rush”).

der

Old English drīfan (“to drive, force, move”)

Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”)

cog

West Frisian driuwe (“to chase, drive, impel”)

Low German drieven (“to drive, drift, push”)

German treiben (“to drive, push, propel”)

Swedish driva (“to drive, power, drift, push, force”)

Icelandic drífa (“to drive, hurry, rush”)


drive

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.

1951 December, Michael Robbins, “John Francis's "History of the English Railway"”, in Railway Magazine, page 800:

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.

1986, Fred Matheny, Solo Cycling: How to Train and Race Bicycle Time Trials, page 136:

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.

2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 11:37 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 2024-11-29:

Planned, usually long-lasting, effort to achieve something; ability coupled with ambition, determination, and motivation.

The Murdstonian drive in business.

1881, Matthew Arnold, The Incompatibles:

Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; (especially) a forced or hurried dispatch of business.

Are you all ready?’ he cried, and set off towards the dead ash where the drive would begin.

1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 79:

An act of driving (prompting) animals forward.

An act of driving game animals forward, to be captured or hunted.

An act of driving livestock animals forward, to transport a herd.

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.

1941 August, Charles E. Lee, “Railways of Italian East Africa—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 340:

(military) A sustained advance in the face of the enemy to take an objective.

a typical steam drive

a nuclear drive

chain drive

front-wheel drive

Some old model trains have clockwork drives.

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:

2001, Michael Hereward Westbrook, The Electric Car, IET, →ISBN, page 146:

A mechanism used to power or give motion to a vehicle or other machine or machine part.

It was a long drive.

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.

1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White:

A trip made in a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).

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.

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:

Beverly Hills’ most famous street is Rodeo Drive.

(dated) A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.

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.

(computer hardware) An apparatus for reading and writing data to or from a mass storage device such as a disk.

(computer hardware) A mass storage device in which the mechanism for reading and writing data is integrated with the mechanism for storing data.

(baseball, tennis) A ball struck in a flat trajectory.

(cricket) 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.

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.

(American football) An offensive possession, generally one consisting of several plays and/ or first downs, often leading to a scoring opportunity.

a whist drive

a beetle drive

(philanthropy) A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive.

vaccination drive

(retail) A campaign aimed at selling more of a certain product or promoting a public service.

(typography) An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.

A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.

Yeah, thanks, drive!
You boyz all goin' shoppin'?
We are, drive, says Chip.

2017 March 21, Leonora Brito, Dat's Love and Other Stories, Parthian Books, →ISBN:

The coaches dropped us where we had begun, outside the chapel; each child in turn piping up, 'Thank you, drive!' as we disembarked.

2017 July 1, Huw Lewis, To Hear the Skylark's Song, Parthian Books, →ISBN:

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.

2018 June 28, Wilf Merttens, Bristol Urban Legends: The Hotwells Crocodile and Other Stories, The History Press, →ISBN:

'Cheers, Drive!' said Dylan as they climbed off the bus.

2019 May 30, Ed Clarke, The Secret Dragon, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

(UK, especially Bristol and Wales, slang) Friendly term of address for a bus driver.

en-noun

drive (countable and uncountable, plural drives)

ryntäys

violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; especially, a forced or hurried dispatch of business

jednotka

computing: apparatus for reading and writing to or from a storage device

laakapallo

baseball, tennis: ball struck in a flat trajectory

rönkgörgeteg

a collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river

[d̠ɹ̠ ̝ʷaɪv]