5 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Drove \Drove\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. {Droved}; p. pr & vb
n. {Droving}.] [Cf. {Drove}, n., and {Drover}.]
1. To drive, as cattle or sheep, esp. on long journeys; to
follow the occupation of a drover.
He's droving now with Conroy's sheep along the
Castlereagh --Paterson.
2. To finish, as stone, with a drove or drove chisel.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Drove \Drove\, imp.
of {Drive}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Drove \Drove\, n. [AS. dr[=a]f, fr dr[=i]fan to drive. See
{Drive}.]
1. A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for
driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine,
driven in a body.
2. Any collection of irrational animals, moving or driving
forward; as a finny drove. --Milton.
3. A crowd of people in motion.
Where droves, as at a city gate, may pass. --Dryden.
4. A road for driving cattle; a driftway. [Eng.]
5. (Agric.) A narrow drain or channel used in the irrigation
of land. --Simmonds.
6. (Masonry)
a A broad chisel used to bring stone to a nearly smooth
surface; -- called also {drove chisel}.
b The grooved surface of stone finished by the drove
chisel; -- called also {drove work}.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
drove
n 1: a group of animals (a herd or flock) moving together
2: a moving crowd [syn: {horde}, {swarm}]
3: a chisel with a broad edge for dressing stone [syn: {drove
chisel}]
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