WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Driv"er
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [From Drive.]
Definition : 1. One who, or that which, drives; the person or thing that urges or compels anything else to move onward.

2. The person who drives beasts or a carriage; a coachman; a charioteer, etc.; hence, also, one who controls the movements of a locomotive.

3. An overseer of a gang of slaves or gang of convicts at their work.

4. (Mach.)

Defn: A part that transmits motion to another part by contact with it, or through an intermediate relatively movable part, as a gear which drives another, or a lever which moves another through a link, etc. Specifically: (a) The driving wheel of a locomotive. (b) An attachment to a lathe, spindle, or face plate to turn a carrier. (c) A crossbar on a grinding mill spindle to drive the upper stone.

5. (Naut.)

Defn: The after sail in a ship or bark, being a fore-and-aft sail attached to a gaff; a spanker. Totten. Driver ant (Zo?l.), a species of African stinging ant; one of the visiting ants (Anomma arcens); -- so called because they move about in vast armies, and drive away or devour all insects and other small animals.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913