transitive verb drove, driven, driving
- to force to go; urge onward; push forward
- to force into or from a state or act: driven mad
- to force to work, usually to excess
- to force by or as by a blow, thrust, or stroke
- to throw, hit, or cast hard and swiftly
- Golf to hit from the tee, usually with a driver
- to cause to go through; make penetrate
- to make or produce by penetrating: to drive a hole through metal
- to control the movement or direct the course of (an automobile, horse and wagon, locomotive, etc.)
- to transport in an automobile or other vehicle
- to impel or propel as motive power; set or keep going; cause to function: a gasoline engine drives the motorboat
- to compel, motivate, influence, direct, etc.: the investigation is driven by political rivalry
- to carry on with vigor; push (a bargain, etc.) through
- Hunting
- to chase (game) from thickets into the clear or into nets, traps, etc.
- to cover (an area) in this way
Origin:
ME driven < OE drifan, akin to Goth dreiban, Ger treiben, ON drīfa < IE base *dhreibh-, to push