Dictionary entry

Drive (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

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.

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