“drive” – English explanatory dictionary

noun 1. a journey, especially in a car ○ Let’s go for a drive into the country. ○ The baby gets sick on long drives. ○ It’s a four-hour drive to the coast. 2. the way in which power gets from the engine to a car’s wheels ○ a car with front-wheel drive ○ a four-wheel-drive car 3. the place where the driver sits ○ a car with left-hand drive (NOTE: British cars are right-hand drive.) 4. a part of a computer which works a disk ○ The computer has a CD-ROM drive. 5. an energetic way of working ○ We need someone with plenty of drive to run the sales department. 6. a little road leading to a house ○ Visitors can park in the drive. 7. (in golf or cricket) hitting the ball hard and far ■ verb 1. to make a motor vehicle travel in a certain direction ○ He can swim, but he can’t drive. ○ He was driving a lorry when the accident happened. ○ She was driving to work when she heard the news on the car radio. □ I’ll drive your aunt to the airport I’ll take her to the airport in my car 2. to force something ○ He drove the nail into the wall. 3. □ to drive someone crazy or mad to have an effect on someone so that they become very annoyed (informal.) ○ The noise is driving me mad. ○ All this work is driving her crazy. 4. (in golf or cricket) to hit the ball hard and far

a term used by tradesmen in speaking of business; “he’s DRIVING
a roaring trade,” _i.e._, a very good one; hence, to succeed in a
bargain, “I DROVE a good bargain,” _i.e._, got the best end of it. To
“LET DRIVE at one,” to strike out. A man snoring hard is said to be
“DRIVING his pigs to market.”

(driv), v. t. [imp. Drove (drov), formerly Drave (drav); p. p. Driven (driv’n); p. pr. & vb. n. Driving.] [AS. drifan; akin to OS. driban, D. drijven, OHG. triban, G. treiben, Icel. drifa, Goth. dreiban. Cf. Drift, Drove.]
1. To impel or urge onward by force in a direction away from one, or along before one; to push forward; to compel to move on; to communicate motion to; as to drive cattle; to drive a nail; smoke drives persons from a room. “A storm came on and drove them into Pylos.” Jowett (Thucyd. ). “Shield pressed on shield, and man drove man along.” Pope. “Go drive the deer and drag the finny prey.” Pope.
2. To urge on and direct the motions of, as the beasts which draw a vehicle, or the vehicle borne by them; hence, also to take in a carriage; to convey in a vehicle drawn by beasts; as to drive a pair of horses or a stage; to drive a person to his own door. “How … proud he was to drive such a brother!” Thackeray.
3. To urge, impel, or hurry forward; to force; to constrain; to urge, press, or bring to a point or state; as to drive a person by necessity, by persuasion, by force of circumstances, by argument, and the like. ´ Enough to drive one mad.´ Tennyson. “He, driven to dismount, threatened, if I did not do the like, to do as much for my horse as fortune had done for his.” Sir P. Sidney.
4. To carry or; to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute. [Now used only colloquially.] Bacon. “The trade of life can not be driven without partners.” Collier.
5. To clear, by forcing away what is contained. “To drive the country, force the swains away.” Dryden.
6. (Mining) To dig Horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel. Tomlinson.
7. To pass away; — said of time. [Obs.] Chaucer. Drive, in all its senses, implies forcible or violent action. It is the reverse of to lead. To drive a body is to move it by applying a force behind; to lead is to cause to move by applying the force before, or in front. It takes a variety of meanings, according to the objects by which it is followed; as to drive an engine, to direct and regulate its motions; to drive logs, to keep them in the current of a river and direct them in their course; to drive feathers or down, to place them in a machine, which, by a current of air, drives off the lightest to one end, and collects them by themselves. ´My thrice-driven bed of down.´ Shak.

v. i. 1. To rush and press with violence; to move furiously. “Fierce Boreas drove against his flying sails.” Dryden. “Under cover of the night and a driving tempest.” Prescott. “Time driveth onward fast,
And in a little while our lips are dumb.” Tennyson.
2. To be forced along; to be impelled; to be moved by any physical force or agent; to be driven. “The hull drives on, though mast and sail be torn.” Byron. “The chaise drives to Mr. Draper’s chambers.” Thackeray.
3. To go by carriage; to pass in a carriage; to proceed by directing or urging on a vehicle or the animals that draw it; as the coachman drove to my door.
4. To press forward; to aim, or tend, to a point; to make an effort; to strive; — usually with at. “Let them therefore declare what carnal or secular interest he drove at.” South.
5. To distrain for rent. [Obs.] To let drive, to aim a blow; to strike with force; to attack. ´Four rogues in buckram let drive at me.´ Shak.

(driv), p. p. Driven. [Obs.] Chaucer.