driver

English Online Dictionary. What means driver‎? What does driver mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English drivere, dryvere, dryvare, equivalent to drive +‎ -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Drieuwer (“driver”), Dutch drijver (“driver”), German Low German Driever (“driver”), German Treiber (“driver”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɹaɪ.və(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: drīʹvər, IPA^(key): /ˈdɹaɪvɚ/
• Rhymes: -aɪvə(ɹ)

Noun

driver (plural drivers)

1. One who drives something.
   2. A person who drives a motorized vehicle such as a car, truck, bus, train, forklift, etc.
   4. (aviation, slang) A pilot (person who flies aircraft).
   6. A person who drives livestock: a drover.
2. Something that drives something else.
   2. (computing) A device driver; a program that acts as an interface between an application and hardware, written specifically for the device it controls.
   4. (golf) A golf club used to drive the ball a great distance.
   6. (nautical) A kind of sail, smaller than a fore and aft spanker on a square-rigged ship, a driver is tied to the same spars.
   8. A factor contributing to something; a cause.
   10. (engineering) Any driving element in any mechanism, which drives the driven element.

       Antonym: follower

   11. A mallet.
   12. A tamping iron.
   13. A cooper's hammer for driving on barrel hoops.
   14. A screwdriver.
   15. (audio) A device that converts an electrical signal to sound waves; the principal component of loudspeakers and headphones.
   17. (chiefly in the plural) A driving wheel of a locomotive.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: ドライバー (doraibā)
  • → Hakka: 多拉把 (tô-lai-pá, tô-lai-pà, tò-lái-pà)
  • → Hokkien: 螺賴把 / 螺赖把 (lo͘-lài-bà)
• → Hokkien: 嚦峇 / 呖峇 (lē-bā)
• → Scottish Gaelic: draibhear

Translations

See also

French

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English driver.

Alternative forms

• driveur

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʁaj.vœʁ/

Noun

driver m (plural drivers)

1. (golf) driver

Etymology 2

Adapted borrowing of English drive +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʁaj.ve/

Verb

driver

1. (golf outside Louisiana, Cajun) to drive

Conjugation

Further reading

• “driver”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• verdir

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English driver.

Noun

driver m or f by sense (invariable)

1. driver (in a trotting race; tennis player good at driving)

Noun

driver m (invariable)

1. driver (golf club; computer module)

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

driver

1. present tense of drive

Derived terms

• (of the noun) pådriver

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English driver.

Pronunciation

Noun

driver m (plural drivers)

1. (computing) driver (program acting as interface between an application and hardware)

   Synonym: controlador

Further reading

• “driver”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “driver”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “driver”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “driver”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English driver.

Noun

driver c

1. (golf) a driver (club)

Declension

See also

• putter

Verb

driver

1. present indicative of driva

References

• driver in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• driver in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• vrider