Drive, v. t. [imp. Drove, formerly Drave (p. p. Driven; p. pr. & vb. n. Driving.]
Etymology: [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 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 more senses
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.
Note: 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.
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
Drive, 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.
Drive, p. p.
Driven. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Drive, n.
1. The act of driving; a trip or an excursion in a carriage, as for exercise or pleasure; -- distinguished from a ride taken on horseback.
2. A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.
3. Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; esp., a forced or hurried dispatch of business. The Murdstonian drive in business. M. Arnold.
4. In type founding and forging, an impression or matrix, formed by a punch drift.
5. A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river. [Colloq.]
Syn. -- See Ride.
Shades of meaning
To drive is to move an object with some force or violence before or away from oneself; it is the direct reverse of draw, lead, etc. A man leads a horse by the halter, drives him with whip and rein. One may be driven to a thing or from it; hence, drive is a synonym equally for compel or for repel or repulse. Repulse is stronger and more conclusive than repel; one may be repelled by the very aspect of the person whose favor he seeks, but is not repulsed except by the direct refusal or ignoring of his suit. A certain conventional modern usage, especially in England, requires us to say that we drive in a carriage, ride upon a horse; tho in Scripture we read of riding in a chariot (2 Kings ix, 16; Jer. xvii, 25, etc.); good examples of the same usage may be found abundantly in the older English. The propriety of a person's saying that he is going to drive when he is simply to be conveyed in a carriage, where some one else, as the coachman, does all the driving, is exceedingly questionable. Many good authorities prefer to use ride in the older and broader sense as signifying to be supported and borne along by any means of conveyance. Compare banish; compel; influence.
Prepositions
Drive to market; to despair; drive into exile; from one's presence; out of the city; drive by, with, or under the lash; drive by or past beautiful estates; along the beach; beside the river; through the park; across the field; around the square; to the door; into the barn; out of the sunshine.