drive
drive
/draɪv/
vehicle
Can you drive?
Don't drive so fast!
I drove to work this morning.
Shall we drive (= go there by car) or go by train?
drive something to drive a car/vehicle/truck/bus
He drives a taxi (= that is his job).
He was arrested for driving recklessly.
She drove quickly back to the office.
We drove from Quebec to Ottawa.
We must have driven over 600 kilometres today.
Driving lessons can be expensive.
We drove the rest of the way in silence.
Have you ever driven a racing car?
I learned to drive when I was 25.
They run a driving school in Birmingham.
Be sure not to drink and drive (= drive when you have drunk alcohol).
a ban on texting and driving
to drive home/north
to drive safely
Collocations
adverb
preposition
from
to
phrases
drink and drive
2 transitive to take somebody somewhere in a car, taxi, etc. drive somebody + adv./prep. Could you drive me home?
My mother drove us to the airport.
They were driven to an unknown place in the hills.
drive somebody I don't want to take the bus. Will you drive me?
3 intransitive + adv./prep. (of a vehicle) to travel under the control of a driver A stream of black cars drove by.
A car drove up to us and a man got out.
4 transitive drive something to own or use a particular type of vehicle What car do you drive?
You need a special licence to drive a heavy goods vehicle.
make somebody do something
5 transitive to make somebody very angry, crazy, etc. or to make them do something extreme drive somebody + adj. to drive somebody crazy/mad/nuts/insane
drive somebody to do something Hunger drove her to steal.
drive somebody to something Those kids are driving me to despair.
The website was extremely slow, driving many users to distraction.
The situation has become so desperate that many are driven to suicide.
The destruction of the rainforest may drive certain species to extinction.
6 transitive to force somebody to act in a particular way drive somebody + adv./prep. The urge to survive drove them on.
drive yourself + adv./prep. You're driving yourself too hard.
be driven by something He was driven by the desire to understand how things work.
The work is driven by the need for information sharing.
machine
7 transitive drive something to provide the power that makes a machine work; to operate a device a steam-driven locomotive
The interface can be used to drive a printer.
make somebody/something move
8 transitive drive somebody/something + adv./prep. to force somebody/something to move in a particular direction to drive sheep into a field
The enemy was driven back.
cause something to make progress
9 transitive drive something to influence something or cause it to make progress This is the main factor driving investment in the area.
A key factor driving growth was the launch of convenient products.
The dairy products market will also be driven by consumer demand.
hit/push
10 transitive drive something + adv./prep. to force something to go in a particular direction or into a particular position by pushing it, hitting it, etc. to drive a nail into a piece of wood
He took a wooden peg and drove it into the ground.
The knife had been driven through his heart.
make a hole
11 transitive drive something + adv./prep. to make an opening in or through something by using force They drove a tunnel through the solid rock.
in sport
to drive the ball into the rough (= in golf)
wind/water
13 transitive drive something (+ adv./prep.) to carry something along Huge waves drove the yacht onto the rocks.
14 intransitive (+ adv./prep.) to fall or move rapidly and with great force The waves drove against the shore.
Idioms
extremely clean, pure, etc.
to cause something to fail, for example a plan
to argue in an aggressive way and force somebody to agree on the best possible price or arrangement
TOPICS Discussion and agreementC2
to make somebody understand or accept something by saying it often, loudly, angrily, etc.
You will really need to drive your point home.
to make somebody so worried, annoyed or upset that they lose control of their behaviour, especially by drinking too much alcohol
The stress drove her to drink and put a strain on her marriage.
(humorous) Dragging kids through airports is enough to drive you to drink.
to make two people start disliking each other
I don't want to drive a wedge between the two of you.
This was just one of the issues that drove a wedge between them.
to work so hard that you become extremely tired
(informal) the thing somebody is trying to say
I wish I knew what they were driving at.
Phrasal Verbs
drive
/draɪv/
in/of vehicle
1 countable a journey in a car or other vehicle Let's go for a drive.
a drive through the mountains
It's a three-hour drive to London.
It's one of the most scenic drives in Europe.
He was tired after the long drive home.
The lakes are only a short drive away.
He offered to take me for a drive later in the day.
It's a pleasant drive to the coast.
All my family live within an hour's drive.
Collocations
adjective
verb + drive
go for
drive + noun
preposition
within a drive
phrases
a… drive away
the drive shaft
a car with four-wheel drive
a left-/right-hand drive car (= a car where the driver and the controls are on the left/right)
Collocations
adjective
3 uncountable the position of the gears in a car with automatic transmission (= a system that changes the gears by itself so the driver does not have to) in which they are unlocked so that the engine can send power to the wheels He jumped in, put the car in drive and set off.
outside house
4 (also driveway) countable a wide hard path or a private road that leads from the street to a house in/on the drive There were two cars parked in the drive.
He walked up the front drive of the vicarage.
A number of police cars blocked the drive.
He pulled into a long drive leading up to a large villa.
Collocations
adjective
drive + verb
lead to
lead up to
drive + noun
preposition
down the drive
in the drive
on the drive
effort
5 countable an organized effort by a group of people to achieve something The company is launching a big recruitment drive.
an export/economy drive
drive for something a drive for greater efficiency
drive to do something the government’s drive to reduce energy consumption
a drive against corruption
the country's drive for modernization
a drive towards higher safety standards
The Popular Front spearheaded the drive for independence.
We organized a food drive for the city's homeless shelters.
From today, we're going on an economy drive.
Collocations
adjective
verb + drive
preposition
drive against
drive by
drive for
desire/energy
The treatment should not affect your sex drive or fertility.
Collocations
adjective
7 uncountable (approving) a strong desire to do things and achieve something; great energy He'll do very well—he has tremendous drive.
We have this insatiable drive to be successful in the markets we serve.
He lacks the competitive drive needed to succeed.
You need to inject more narrative drive into the story.
Collocations
adjective
verb + drive
in sport
She has a strong forehand drive (= in tennis).
He scored with a brilliant 25-yard drive.
He hit a line drive straight at me.
Cole scored with a thunderous left-foot drive.
Collocations
adjective
verb + drive
computing
9 countable a type of computer storage that stores large amounts of data on a spinning (= turning) disk a CD drive
Collocations
adjective
verb + drive
drive + noun
games
10 countable (British English) a social occasion when a lot of people compete in a game such as whist or bingo animals/enemy
11 countable an act of going after animals or the enemy and making them go into a smaller area, especially in order to kill or capture them road
12 Drive (abbreviation Dr) used in the names of roads
21 Island Heights Drive
Word Origin
Old English drīfan ‘urge (a person or animal) to go forward’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch drijven and German treiben.