DCHP-1

drive ((n.)) †

1a n. Lumbering a specific collection of logs being floated downstream at high water from the timber limits to a mill or shipping point.
See also: log drive logging drive log run river drive timber drive
- 1872 . . . the men working at the head of the "drive" earn more than those at the tail, where there are no jams; the smartest men therefore go to the front.
- 1964 If the drive was to go on, some one man had to go out there, find the key log and cut it away
1b n. Lumbering the process or practice of floating logs downstream at high water.
See also: driving (def. 1)
- 1926 These raftsmen are nimble on timber beyond belief. To-day, when it is mainly saw-logs that are cut, the fully improved streams make the drive easy; but in the old days I speak of, the unimproved streams were very dangerous. . . .
- 1964 Log jams on the Ottawa which held up the drive and filled taverns with rival gangs of Irish and French, were almost certain to brew trouble.
2 n. a method of hunting deer by which the animal is driven, usually by dogs, until it seeks refuge in a stream or lake, where, at the point of exhaustion, it is easily killed.
See also: drive hunting
- 1921 One of the most ancient methods of hunting and one which is still in vogue in some remote places is the "drive." At those driving grounds in the right season--even if a drive of only a few miles were made--the Indians could count on securing two or three bears, three or four moose, and twelve or fifteen caribou.
3a † n. West the driving of cattle or other animals from one place to another.
- 1955 There's not many cow outfits would have landed this drive!
- 1957 To know what cattle would do in a pinch, to foresee their next move on a drive, to understand their minds--that was a skilled trade not to be learned under half a lifetime.
3b † n. West the herd of livestock being driven from one place to another.
- 1955 The horse cavvy with Rob and Ed Striegler had flashed past the drive into the frozen haze of the early dawn.

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