driveable

Variant of drive

drive definition

drive (drīv)

transitive verb drove, driven driv′en, driving driv′·ing

  1. to force to go; urge onward; push forward
  2. to force into or from a state or act driven mad
  3. to force to work, usually to excess
    1. to force by or as by a blow, thrust, or stroke
    2. to throw, hit, or cast hard and swiftly
    3. Golf to hit from the tee, usually with a driver
  4. to cause to go through; make penetrate
  5. to make or produce by penetrating to drive a hole through metal
  6. to control the movement or direct the course of (an automobile, horse and wagon, locomotive, etc.)
  7. to transport in an automobile or other vehicle
    1. to impel or propel as motive power; set or keep going; cause to function a gasoline engine drives the motorboat
    2. to compel, motivate, influence, direct, etc. the investigation is driven by political rivalry
  8. to carry on with vigor; push (a bargain, etc.) through
  9. Hunting
    1. to chase (game) from thickets into the clear or into nets, traps, etc.
    2. to cover (an area) in this way

Etymology: ME driven < OE drifan, akin to Goth dreiban, Ger treiben, ON drīfa < IE base *dhreibh-, to push

intransitive verb

  1. to advance violently; dash
  2. to work or try hard, as to reach a goal
  3. to drive a blow, ball, missile, etc.
  4. to be driven; operate: said of a motor vehicle
  5. to go or be conveyed in a vehicle
  6. to operate a motor vehicle

noun

  1. the act of driving
  2. a trip in a vehicle
    1. a road for automobiles, etc.
    2. a driveway
    1. a rounding up or moving of animals on foot for branding, slaughter, etc.
    2. the animals rounded up or moved
    1. a hard, swift blow, thrust, etc., as of a ball in a game
    2. Golf a shot from the tee, usually with a driver
    1. an organized movement to achieve some purpose; campaign
    2. a large-scale military offensive to gain an objective
    3. Football a series of plays that advances the ball toward the opponent's goal, usually resulting in a field goal or touchdown
  3. ☆ the power or energy to get things done; enthusiastic or aggressive vigor
  4. that which is urgent or pressing; pressure
  5. ☆ a collection of logs being floated down a river to a sawmill
    1. any apparatus that transmits power in a motor vehicle a gear drive
    2. that arrangement in an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle which allows movement forward at varying speeds
  6. a device that communicates motion to a machine or machine part
  7. Comput. a unit that reads and writes data on magnetic tape, a disk, etc.
  8. Psychol. any of the basic biological impulses or urges, such as self-preservation, hunger, sex, etc.

Related Forms:

drive Idioms

drive at

  1. to aim at
  2. to mean; intend

drive in

  1. to force in, as by a blow
  2. Baseball to cause (a runner) to score or (a run) to be scored, as by getting a hit

let drive

to hit or aim

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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