Drive

[imp. DROVE (formerly DRAVE); p. p. DRIVEN; p. pr. & vb. n. DRIVING.] [A-S. drīfan, O. Sax. drīban, Goth. dreiban, D. drijven, Icel. drífa, Sw. drifva, Dan. drive, O. H. Ger. triban, N. H. Ger. treiben.]

1Sense 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; as, to drive cattle; to drive a nail; the wind drives a ship along; smoke drives persons from a room.

Shield pressed on shield, and man drove man along. Pope.

2Sense 2. To urge to a trap or snare, or corral; to urge or force along with horse and hound; to chase; to hunt.

To drive the deer with hound and horn. Chevy Chase.

3Sense 3. 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; to drive a stage; to drive a person to his own door, and the like.

4Sense 4. (Mining.) To dig horizontally; to cut an horizontal gallery or tunnel. Tomlinson.

5Sense 5. To urge, impel, hurry forward; to force; to constrain; as, to drive a person by necessity, by persuasion, by force of circumstances, by argument, and the like; to drive one mad.

For the meter's sake some words in him sometimes be driven awry. Ascham.

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. Sidney.

He was driven by the necessities of the times . . . to rigor. King Charles.

6Sense 6. To carry on; to prosecute; to follow, as a trade.

The trade of life can not be driven without partners. Collier.

7Sense 7. To clear by forcing away what is contained.

To drive the country, force the swains away. Dryden.

☞ To drive 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. “His 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.

2Sense 2. To be forced along; to be impelled; to be moved by any physical force or agent; as, a ship drives before the wind.

The hull drives on, though mast and sail be torn. Byron.

3Sense 3. To go by carriage; to proceed by urging on a vehicle or the animals that draw it; as, to drive rapidly. Milton.

4Sense 4. To aim or tend to a point; to make an effort; to strive.

Let them therefore declare what carnal or secular interest he drove at. South.

5Sense 5. To distrain for rent. [Obs.]

To let drive, to aim a blow; to strike with force. “Four rogues in buckram let drive at me.” Shak.

☞ Drive, in all its senses, implies forcible or violent action. It is opposed 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.

n. 1. An excursion in a carriage, for exercise or pleasure; — distinguished from a ride, which is taken on horseback.

2Sense 2. A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.

Synonyms— See RIDE.