drive-boat 
drive-boat (driv'bot), . A light rowing-boat 
used by the drivers in driving menhaden into 
the net or seine. 
drive-bolt (driv'bolt), . A tool used to drive 
a bolt home (that is, to its final position) when 
this cannot be done with a hammer. 
drivel 1 (driv'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. driveled, driv- 
elled, ppr. driveling, drivelling. [< ME. drivelen, 
also drevelcn, var. of dravelen, which is another 
form of drabelcn, drabble : see drabble and drib- 
ble%, a,n& drool, acontr. of drivel 1 .'] 1. To slav- 
er ; let spittle drop or flow from the mouth, like 
a child, an idiot, or a dotard. 
No man could spit from him without it [the tongue], 
but would be forced to drivel, like some paraliticks or a 
fool. Grew, Cosmologia Sacra, i. 5. 
2. To be weak or foolish; talk weakly or fool- 
ishly; dote. 
That folly of drivelling infidelity, which shivers at every 
fresh revelation of geology. De Quincey, Herodotus. 
drivel 1 (driv'l), . [< drivel^, v.~] 1. Slaver; 
saliva flowing from the mouth. 
But when he spied her his saint, 
He wipte his greasie shoes, 
And clear'd the driuell from his beard, 
And thus the shepheard wooes. 
Warner, Albion's England, iv. 20. 
2. Silly, unmeaning talk; inarticulate non- 
sense; senseless twaddle, like the talk of an 
idiot. 
drive! 2 t (driv'l), n. [Also written drevil, drevill, 
drevel, also dribble (see dribble 3 ) ; < ME. drivel, 
a servant, slave (= MD. drevel = MLG. dravel, 
drevel, a servant, = OHG. tribil, MHG. tribel, 
treibel, a driver, a servant), < driven, etc., drive, 
pursue business, etc. No connection with driv- 
el 1 , with which dictionaries have confused it.] 
A servant ; a drudge ; a slave. 
Thu achalt be mare beon idrecchet then eni drivel i the 
bus other eni hured hine [Thou Shalt be more oppressed 
than any drivel in the house or any hired hiud]. 
Hali Meidenhed (ed. Cockayne), p. 29. 
That foule aged drevttl. Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 3. 
Amphialus having persuaded Clinias to write a bold an- 
swer to Dametas, calling him a "filthy drivel," Dametas, 
who was as great a coward as Clinias, would have drawn 
back. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii. 
driveler, driveller (driv'l-er), n. One who driv- 
els; an idiot; a fool. 
From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flow, 
And Swift expires a driv'ler and a show. 
Johnson, Vanity of Human Wishes. 
Due mirth he loved, yet was his sway severe ; 
No blear-eyed driveller got his stagger here. 
Lowell, Fitz Adam's Story. 
driven (driv'n). Past participle of drive. 
driver (dri'ver), . [< ME. driver, drifer = 
OFries. drivere = LG. driver = D. drijver = 
OHG. tripari, MHG. tribaire, triber, G. treiber; < 
drive + -er 1 .] 1 . One who or that which drives. 
Specifically (a) One who drives animals or men. (1) 
One who drives horses or cattle ; a drover. 
The multitude, . . . like a drove of sheep, . . . may be 
managed by any noise or cry which their drivers shall ac- 
custom them to. South, Works, II. i.\. 
(2) One who drives draft-animals attached to a vehicle. 
The carts with the driitfr*, and with the oxen, camels, 
asses, and mules, with the whole carriage and victuals, he 
tooke and brought with him. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. i. 84. 
(3) Formerly, in the southern United States, specifically, 
the overseer of a gang of slaves. 
A driver is the foreman of a gang of laborers. On some 
plantations the title of foreman is coming into use, the 
negroes objecting to the old word. 
The Century, XXXV. 110. 
(4) By extension, a locomotive-engineer. (5) A subordi- 
nate official formerly employed in driving for rent in Ire- 
land, See drive, v. i., 8. (6) One who drives game to a 
hunter ; In deer-hunting, one who puts the hounds on the 
track of the game. (6) One who sets something before 
him as an aim or object ; an aimer. 
A dangerous driver at popery and sedition. 
Bp. Mountagu, Appeal to Csesar, p. 80. 
(e) One who drives logs down a stream. [U. S.] (d) An 
energetic, pushing person. [Colloq.] (e) In the menhaden- 
fishery, one who drives the fish into the net by throwing 
stones at them from a light rowboat, a pile of stones being 
carried for the purpose. (/) Naut. : (i) A large sail, like 
a studdmgsail, formerly set abaft the mizzenmast where 
the spanker is now set ; hence, the spanker. See cut under 
sail. (2) The foremost spur to the bulgeways (o) In 
mach.: (1) A driving-wheel. (2) The tread-wheel of a 
harvester. (3) A tamping-iron, used to tamp the powder 
in a blast-hole. (4) A curved piece of metal fixed to the 
center-chuck of a lathe. (5) The cross-bar on the spin- 
dle of a grinding-mill. (6) Same as drift, n., 11. (7) A 
substance interposed between the driving instrument and 
the thing driven. A cooper drives hoops by striking upon 
the driver. (8) In weaving, a piece of wood or other ma- 
terial, upon a spindle, and placed in a box, which impels 
the shuttle through the opening in the warp. 
2. A bird, the dowitcher. [Local, U. 8.] 
driver-ant (dri'ver-ant), . The popular name 
of a species of ant in western Africa, Anomma 
arcens, of the family Dorylida; : so called from 
its driving other animals before it. 
1774 
driver-boom (dri'ver-bom), n. Naut., an old 
term for spanker-boom. 
driveway (diiv'wa), n. A way for driving; 
a drive ; specifically, a private road, as from a 
house to the street entrance. 
drive-wheel (driv'hwel), n. Same as driving- 
wheel. 
driving-axle (dri'ving-ak"sl), n. See axle. 
driving-band (dri'viug-band), n. The band or 
strap which communicates motion from one 
machine to another, or from one part of the 
same machine to another. 
driving-bolt (dri'ving-bolt), n. A tool used 
by wheelwrights for driving in nave-boxes. 
driving-box (dri'ving-boks), n. 1. The journal- 
box of a driving-axle. 2. The driver's seat on 
a coach. 
driving-cap (dri'ving-kap), n. A cap of iron, 
fitted to the top of a pipe, as in an oil-well, to 
receive the blow when driven and thus to pro- 
tect the pipe. 
driving-chisel (dri'ying-chiz^el), n. See chisel"*. 
driving-gear (dri'ving-ger), n. See gear. 
driving-notest (dri'ving-nots), n. pi. In mu- 
sic, syncopated notes that is, notes driven 
through an accent without repetition. See syn- 
copation. 
driving-shaft (dri'ving-shaft), n. In mach., a 
shaft from the driving-wheel communicating 
motion to machinery. 
driving-spring (dri'ving-spring), n. In rail., 
the spring fixed upon the box of the driving- 
axle of a locomotive engine, to support the 
weight and to deaden shocks. 
driving-wheel (dri'ving-hwel), n. 1. In mach., 
a main wheel that communicates motion to an- 
other or to others. 2. In rail., one of the large 
wheels (commonly four, though occasionally as 
many as ten, in number) in a locomotive en- 
gine which are fixed upon the crank-axles or 
main shafts. 
Also called driver and drive-wheel. 
drixy (drik'si), a. [Formerly also dricksie; 
var. of druxy, q. v.] If. Decayed, as a tree or 
timber. 
Tile resemblance misticall : as when we liken a young 
childe to a greene twigge which ye may easilie bende 
enery way ye list ; or an old man who laboureth with con- 
tinuall infirmities, to a drie and dricksie oke. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber), p. 251. 
2. Dwarfish; stunted. [Scotch.] 
drizzle 1 (driz'l), v. ; pret. and pp. drizzled, ppr. 
drizzling. [Early mod. E. drizle, drisel; prob. 
< ME. "dreselen, an unrecorded freq. of dresen 
(pp. ydroren; rare), fall, < AS. dredsan (pret. 
dreds, pi. druron, pp. droren), fall (as rain, snow, 
dew, fruit, the slain, etc.), = OS. driosan = 
Norw. drjosa = Goth, driusan, fall: an orig. 
Teut. verb, found otherwise only in the causa- 
tive, OHG. troran, MHG. troren, cause to drop, 
let fall in drops, pour, shed, throw away (= 
Icel. dreyra, intr. ooze, bleed), and in other sec- 
ondary forms : AS. drusian, sink, become slug- 
gish (see drowse); E. dial, drose, droze, freq. 
drosle, drip or gutter, as a candle ; LG. drusen, 
also drusken, fall with a noise, make a noise, 
= MD. druysclien, make a noise; LG. droschen, 
dreschen = G. dial, drauschen, dreuschen, for- 
merly dreussfii, rain heavily, shower; Norw. 
drysja, fall, fall and scatter, as grain, rush with 
a noise, tr. scatter, spread, = Dan. drysse, fall 
or drop in small particles, tr. sprinkle ; and in 
the derivatives dross and dreary, and their kin- 
dred: see dross and dreary.] I. intrans. To 
fall, as water from the clouds, in very fine par- 
ticles; rain in small drops: as, it drizzles; driz- 
zling drops ; drizzling rain. 
Drizzling tears did shed for pure affection. Spenser. 
Sometimes, though but seldom, when these Winds blow 
the Sky is over-cast with small Clouds, which afford some 
drizling small Rain. Dumpier, Voyages, II. iii. 45. 
A silver car, air-borne, 
Whose silent wheels, fresh wet from clouds of morn 
Spun off a drizzling dew. Keats, Endymion, ii. 
II. trans. To shed in small drops or particles. 
The earth doth drizzle dew. Shak., R. and J., iii. 6. 
drizzle 1 (driz'l), n. [< drizzle*, v.~\ A light 
rain ; mizzle ; mist. 
drizzle 2 (driz'l), n. A local English name of 
the young ling. Also called ling-drizzle. 
drizzly (driz'li), a. [< drizzle + -yl.] Driz- 
zling ; consisting of or characterized by drizzle. 
Winter's drizzly reign. Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Oeorgics. 
But the shapes of air have begun their work, 
drizzly mist is around him cast. 
And a 
. 
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay, p. 47. 
drock (drok), n. [E. dial.] A watercourse. Hal- 
liwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
droit 
drock (drok), r. t. [E. dial., < drock, n.] To 
drain with underground stone gutters. Halli- 
well. [Prov. Eng.] 
droflandt, n. [An old law term, < ME. drof, 
drove, drove, + land; also called drift-land and 
drifland (dryfland) : see drift-land.] Same as 
drift-land. 
droger, drogher (dro'ger), . [Prob. of West 
Indian origin.] 1. A small West Indian coast- 
ing craft, having long light masts and lateen 
sails. 2. Any slow, clumsy coasting craft. 
We carried [two hides on the head at a time] for the 
first few months ; but after falling in with a few other 
"hide droghers," and finding that they carried only one 
at a time, we " knocked off " the extra one. 
S. II. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 99. 
droghing (dro'ging), n. [< drogh(er) + -ingi.] 
The West Indian coasting carrying-trade. 
drogmant, drogomant (drog'man, -o-man), n. 
Obsolete forms of dragoman. 
drogue (drog), n. [See drag, .] The drag, 
an implement used to check the progress of a 
running whale by being bent on to the drogue- 
iron. It is made in various ways. A common drogue is 
made of two pieces of board, 12 or 14 inches square, nailed 
together, with sometimes a third upright piece, to which 
the drogue-lashing is made fast. Another is made like a 
small wooden tub with an upright to which the lashing is 
bent on. Also drug. 
The drogue consists of a hinge-jointed iron ring ... to 
which a conical canvas bag is sewn, and roped. 
Qualtrough, Boat Sailer's Manual, p. 122. 
droguet (dro-ga'), n. [F. : see drugget.] A 
French term for various fabrics for wearing- 
apparel : used in English especially for a ribbed 
woolen material for dresses ; a variety of rep. 
droilt (droil), v. i. [Also droyl, droyle; prob. < 
D. druilen, MD. druylen, loiter, slumber, move 
stealthily; connection with the noun uncer- 
tain.] To work sluggishly or slowly ; plod. 
Let such vile vassals . . . 
Drudge in the world, and for their living droyle. 
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 157. 
The soul forgot her heavenly flight, and left the dull 
and droyling carcas to plod on In the old rode and drudg- 
ing Trade of outward conformity. 
Milton, Reformation in Eng., i. 
droilt (droil), n. [Also droyle, droile: see the 
verb. Cf. Icel. drjoli, a drone, sluggard; Gael. 
droll, an awkward sluggard.] 1. Labor; toil; 
drudgery. 
'Tis I do all the droil, the dirt-work. 
Shirley, Gentleman of Venice, i. 2. 
2. A drudge. 
Peasants and droyls. 
Beau, and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, ii. 1. 
droit (droit; F. pron. drwo), 11. [< OF. droit, 
droict, dreit, F. droit = Sp. dereclto = Pg. direito 
= It. diretto, < ML. directum, contr. drecttim, 
drictum, right, justice, law, neut. of L. directus, 
right, straight, direct: see direct, adroit, and 
dress.] 1. in old law, right, especially a right 
in land ; right of ownership. The simultaneous 
holding of actual possession, the right of possession, and 
the right of ownership was termed droit -drot7 or jus dupli- 
catum. This constituted a completely legal title. 
2. In finance, duty; custom. 
The pilferings of the orchard and garden I confiscated 
as droils. Marryat, Frank Mildmay, i. 
Argument en droit, argument of a question of law. 
Defense en droit. See defense. Droit commun, droit 
coutumier, common or general law. Droit d'ac- 
croisseinent, in French law, right of survivorship. 
Droit d'ainesse, right by birth ; right of primogeniture. 
Droit d'aubalne. See aubaine. Droit de corvees, 
right to feudal service. Droit de d^sherence, right of 
escheat. Droit de fauteuil. See jauteuil. Droit de 
suite, (a) Right to follow and reclaim from the hands of 
a third person. (6) Right of stoppage in transitu. Droit 
de tabouret. See tabouret. Droit d'execution, the 
right of a stock-broker to sell the securities bought by him 
for the account of a client, if the latter does not accept 
delivery thereof. The same expression is also applied to 
the sale by a stock-broker of securities deposited with him 
by his client, in order to guarantee the payment of opera- 
tions for which the latter has given instructions. Xapo- 
leonArgle. Droits of admiralty, perquisites once at- 
tached to the office of admiral of England, or lord high 
admiral. Of these perquisites, the most valuable was the 
right to the property of an enemy, as ships seized on the 
breaking out of hostilities. The droits of admiralty are 
now paid into the exchequer for the benefit of the public 
service. A tenth part of property captured at .ea is al- 
lowed to the captors. In American law droits of admiral- 
ty are not as such recognized. Acts of Congress from time 
to time have regulated the disposition of captured prop- 
erty. 
All those portions of the power of the admiral which 
may be properly called executive or administrative are 
unknown to th= American admiralty. The trappings, per- 
quisites, prerogatives, and droils of the admiralty are left 
to governments with which they are in harmony. 
Benedict, Admiralty Practice, 33. 
Plaider en droit, in French law, to interpose a defense 
upon the law, as distinguished from a denial or plea of 
facts. 
