driving

• enPR: drīʹvĭng, IPA^(key): /ˈdɹaɪvɪŋ/

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• Rhymes: -aɪvɪŋ

From Middle English dryvyng, drivende, from Old English drīfende, from Proto-Germanic *drībandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *drībaną (“to drive”), equivalent to drive +‎ -ing. Cognate with Saterland Frisian drieuwend, West Frisian driuwend, Dutch drijvend, German Low German drievend, German treibend, Swedish drivande.

driving

1. present participle and gerund of drive

driving (comparative more driving, superlative most driving)

1. That drives (a mechanism or process).
   • 1968, Robert Conquest, “The Purge Begins”, in The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties‎^[1], Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 77:

     But the dull, cool, calculating effect given cumulatively through Stalin’s long career, the air of a great glacier moving slowly and by the easiest path to overwhelm some Alpine valley, is only part of the picture. At various times - and especially in his early career - the calm of his general manner was broken, and expression given to the driving emotions that possessed him.

2. That drives forcefully; strong; forceful; violent (of wind, rain, etc)

From Middle English driving, drivinge, equivalent to drive +‎ -ing. Compare Dutch drijving, German Treibung.

driving (countable and uncountable, plural drivings)

1. The action of the verb to drive in any sense.
   • 1825, Cobbett's Political Register, volume 54, page 789:

     […] with all its drivings of cattle and all its tithe battles, and all the killings and maimings consequent upon those battles, […]

2. In particular, the action of operating a motor vehicle.
   • 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 156:

     There had been the whisky and Perrier in the morning but, in my ignorance of alcoholics then, I could not imagine one whisky harming anyone who was driving in an open car in the rain.

   • 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:

     Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins.

3. (golf) The act of driving the ball; hitting the ball a long distance, especially from the tee to the putting green.
   • 1899, L.P., “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind”, in Golf Illustrated, volume 2, page 233:

     Heigh-ho! Sing heigh-ho! my Golf is most shocking; My driving is topping, my caddie's still mocking.

   • 2003, Daniel Stewart Acuff, Golf Talk, page 57:

     Ever since I started talking to myself with this new attitude toward my driving and my performance on the first tee and the first few holes, I have experienced consistently better performance with my driver.

   • 2012, Jeff Silverman, Classic Golf Stories: 26 Incredible Tales from the Links:

     There is no such being as a golfer uninterested in his driving.