drive

1 /draIv/ verb past tense drove, past participle driven /'drIvFn/

1 OPERATE A VEHICLE (I, T) to sit in a car, bus etc and make it travel from one place to another: Do you drive? | She drove the pick-up and got our supplies.

2 TRAVEL SOMEWHERE (I, T) to travel in a car: Shall we drive or take the bus?

3 TAKE SB SOMEWHERE (T) to take someone somewhere in a car: Just tell us when you have to go, and Jim will drive you. | drive sb back/down/over etc: Can I drive you home?

4 FEELING (T) to make someone feel or do something bad or unpleasant: drive sb to sth: The children are driving me to despair. | drive sb to do sth: It was hunger that drove them to steal the bread. | be driven by sth (=be encouraged to do something by an unpleasant feeling or quality): Phil, driven by jealousy, started spying on his wife. | drive sb to drink (=upset someone very much): This job's enough to drive anyone to drink! | drive sb mad/crazy etc: The noise from the neighbours is driving me mad.

5 FORCE SB/STH (T) to force someone or something to go somewhere: Tourists were driven indoors by the rain. | Cowhands drove the cattle into the corral.

6 PROVIDE POWER (T) to provide the power for something: a steam-driven generator

7 HIT STH INTO STH (T) to hit something, such as a nail, into something else: We watched Dad drive the posts into the ground.

8 SPORT (I, T) to move a ball in a game of football, golf etc by kicking, hitting, or bouncing (bounce1 (1)) it hard and fast: Bonds drove the ball to center field.

9 drive a hard bargain to make an agreement difficult by demanding a lot or refusing to give too much

10 drive sb out of their mind to do something that makes someone feel as if they are crazy

11 drive a coach and horses through sth to destroy an argument, plan etc completely: The new bill will drive a coach and horses through recent trade agreements.

12 MAKE A HOLE (T) to make a large hole in something using heavy equipment or machinery: They're planning to drive a tunnel through the mountains.

13 drive home a point to make something completely clear to someone: I tried to drive home the point that we need extra people, but the boss wasn't interested.

14 drive a wedge between to do something that makes people disagree or start to dislike each other: Lisa's lies drove a wedge between the couple.

15 drive yourself too hard to force yourself to work too hard, because you want to be successful

drive at sth phrasal verb (T) what sb is driving at the thing someone is really trying to say: He didn't mention the word `redundancy' but I knew what he was driving at. drive sb away phrasal verb (T) to behave in a way that forces someone to leave: Your possessiveness will drive Liz away if you're not careful. drive off phrasal verb

1 (I) if a car, driver etc drives off, they leave: After the accident the other car just drove off.

2 (transitive drive someone/something off) to force someone or something that is attacking or threatening you to go away: We keep dogs in the yard to drive off intruders.

3 (I) to hit the first ball in a game of golf

drive sb/sth out phrasal verb (T) to force someone or something to leave: Downtown stores are being driven out by crime. drive sth up phrasal verb (T) to force prices, costs etc to rise quickly: The oil shortage drove gas prices up by 20 cents a gallon. 2 noun

1 IN A CAR (C) a trip in a car: It's a four day drive to Prague. | go for a drive: Let's go for a drive along the coast.

2 OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE (C) the area or road between your house and the street; driveway: He parked his car in the drive.

3 SPORT (C) an act of hitting a ball hard, especially in tennis or golf: He hit a long, high drive to right field.

4 A FIGHT FOR STH (C) a planned effort by an organization or government to achieve a change that will improve people's lives: a big anti-smoking drive | economy drive (=effort to reduce spending)

5 NATURAL NEED (C) a strong natural need which must be satisfied: Hunger is a human drive. | sex drive

6 SB'S ENERGY (U) determination and energy that make you successfully achieve something: Brian has got tremendous drive.

7 Drive used in the names of roads: They live at 141 Park Drive.

8 POWER (singular) the power from an engine that makes the wheels of a vehicle go round: four wheel drive

9 MILITARY ATTACK (C) several military attacks: a drive deep into enemy territory

—see also: disk drive, whist drive