motor
motor
noun
/ˈməʊtə(r)/
1 a device that uses electricity, petrol, etc. to produce movement and makes a machine, a vehicle, a boat, etc. work
An electric motor is used to pump the water.
Batteries power the motor.
He started the motor.
Diesel engines drive six electric motors.
SEE ALSO outboard motor
TOPICS Engineering B2
Collocations
adjective
largepowerfulsmall…
verb + motor
startturn onturn off…
motor + verb
runworkdrive something
2 a source of power, energy or movement
Consumer spending has been the motor of economic growth.
Women are the motors of change in politics and the economy.
3 ​(British English, old-fashioned or humorous) a car
He uses the motor for local shopping trips.
I'm so rich now I can buy a shiny new motor!
TOPICS Transport by car or lorry C1
motor
adjective
/ˈməʊtə(r)/
only before noun
1 having an engine; using the power of an engine
The street is closed to motor vehicles.
2 (especially British English) connected with vehicles that have engines
Europe's motor industry faces international competition.
I like all forms of motor sports.
a motor accident
motor insurance
motor fuel
​3 (specialist) connected with movement of the body that is produced by muscles; connected with the nerves that control movement
uncoordinated motor activity
Both motor and sensory functions are affected.
TOPICS Body C2
motor
verb (motors, motored, motored, motoring)
/ˈməʊtə(r)/
intransitive (British English, old-fashioned)
​+ adv./prep. to travel by car, especially for pleasure
We motored down to Oxford for the day.
TOPICS Transport by car or lorry B2
Word Origin
late Middle English (denoting a person who imparts motion): from Latin, literally ‘mover’, based on movere ‘to move’. The current sense of the noun dates from the mid 19th cent.