Driv"er (?), n. [From Drive.]
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.) 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.) The after sail in a ship or
bark, being a fore-and-aft sail attached to a gaff; a spanker.
Totten.
Driver ant (Zoöl.), 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.
