Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Drive

Drive (drīv) , transitive verb

[Anglo-Saxon drīfan; akin to Old Saxon drīban, Dutch drijven, Old High German trīban, German treiben, Icelandic drīfa, Gothic dreiban. Compare 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. [Obsolete] — Chaucer
8.
Specif., in various games, as tennis, baseball, etc., to propel (the ball) swiftly by a direct stroke or forcible throw.
9.
to operate (a vehicle) while it is on motion, by manipulating the controls, such as the steering, propulsion, and braking mechanisms.

Drive , noun

1.
In various games, as tennis, cricket, etc., the act of player who drives the ball; the stroke or blow; the flight of the ball, etc., so driven.
2.
(Golf) A stroke from the tee, generally a full shot made with a driver; also, the distance covered by such a stroke.

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.”

Drive , intransitive verb

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. [Obsolete]
6.
(Golf) To make a drive, or stroke from the tee.
7.
to go from one place to another in a vehicle, serving as the operator of the vehicle; to drive{9} a vehicle from one location to another.
Collocations (1)
To let drive , to aim a blow; to strike with force; to attack. Four rogues in buckram let drive at me. — Shakespeare

Drive (drīv) , past participle

Driven. [Obsolete] — Chaucer

Drive (drīv) , noun

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. [Colloquial]
6.
a private road; a driveway.
7.
a strong psychological motivation to perform some activity.
8.
(Computers) a device for reading or writing data from or to a data storage medium, as a disk drive, a tape drive, a CD drive, etc.
9.
an organized effort by a group to accomplish a goal within a limited period of time; as, a fund-raising drive.
10.
a physiological function of an organism motivating it to perform specific behaviors; as, the sex drive.
11.
(Football) the period during which one team sustains movement of the ball toward the opponent's goal without losing possession of the ball; as, a long drive downfield.
12.
an act of driving a vehicle, especially an automobile; the journey undertaken by driving an automobile; as, to go for a drive in the country.
13.
the mechanism which causes the moving parts of a machine to move; as, a belt drive.
14.
the way in which the propulsive force of a vehicle is transmitted to the road; as, a car with four-wheel drive, front-wheel drive, etc.