Adjacent Words

Driving definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DRIVING, ppr. Urging forward by force; impelling.
DRIVING, n.
1. The act of impelling.
2. Tendency.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having the power of driving or impelling; "a driving personal ambition"; "the driving force was his innate enthusiasm"; "an impulsive force" [syn: driving, impulsive]
2: acting with vigor; "responsibility turned the spoiled playboy into a driving young executive" n
1: hitting a golf ball off of a tee with a driver; "he sliced his drive out of bounds" [syn: drive, driving]
2: the act of controlling and steering the movement of a vehicle or animal

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 14th century 1. a. communicating force <a driving wheel> b. exerting pressure <a driving influence> 2. a. having great force <a driving rain> <a driving beat> b. acting with vigor ; energetic <a hard-driving worker>

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Drive Drive (dr[imac]v), v. t. [imp. Drove (dr[=o]v), formerly Drave (dr[=a]v); p. p. Driven (dr[i^]v'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Driving.] [AS. dr[=i]fan; akin to OS. dr[=i]ban, D. drijven, OHG. tr[=i]ban, G. treiben, Icel. dr[=i]fa, Goth. dreiban. Cf. 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. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Note: 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.'' --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Driving Driv"ing, a. 1. Having great force of impulse; as, a driving wind or storm. 2. Communicating force; impelling; as, a driving shaft. Driving axle, the axle of a driving wheel, as in a locomotive. Driving box (Locomotive), the journal box of a driving axle. See Illust. of Locomotive. Driving note (Mus.), a syncopated note; a tone begun on a weak part of a measure and held through the next accented part, thus anticipating the accent and driving it through. Driving spring, a spring fixed upon the box of the driving axle of a locomotive engine to support the weight and deaden shocks. [Eng.] --Weale. Driving wheel (Mach.), a wheel that communicates motion; one of the large wheels of a locomotive to which the connecting rods of the engine are attached; -- called also, simply, driver. See Illust. of Locomotive.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Driving Driv"ing, n. 1. The act of forcing or urging something along; the act of pressing or moving on furiously. 2. Tendency; drift. [R.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

The driving force or idea behind something that happens or is done is the main thing that has a strong effect on it and makes it happen or be done in a particular way. Consumer spending was the driving force behind the economic growth in the summer... ADJ: ADJ n see also drive

Moby Thesaurus

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