[syn: motive(a), motor]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Motor \Mo"tor\, n. [L., fr. movere, motum, to move.]
1. One who, or that which, imparts motion; a source of
mechanical power.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Mach.) A prime mover; a machine by means of which a
source of power, as steam, moving water, electricity,
etc., is made available for doing mechanical work.
[1913 Webster]
3. A motor car; an automobile. [archiac Colloq.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.] Motory
Motor
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Motor \Mo"tor\, Motory \Mo"to*ry\, Motorial \Mo*to"ri*al\, a.
[L. motorius that has motion. See Motor, n.]
Causing or setting up motion; pertaining to organs of motion;
-- applied especially in physiology to those nerves or nerve
fibers which only convey impressions from a nerve center to
muscles, thereby causing motion.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
motor
adj 1: conveying information to the muscles from the CNS; "motor
nerves" [syn: centrifugal, motor(a)]
2: causing or able to cause motion; "a motive force"; "motive
power"; "motor energy" [syn: motive(a), motor]
n 1: machine that converts other forms of energy into mechanical
energy and so imparts motion
2: a nonspecific agent that imparts motion; "happiness is the
aim of all men and the motor of all action"
v 1: travel or be transported in a vehicle; "We drove to the
university every morning"; "They motored to London for the
theater" [syn: drive, motor]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
97 Moby Thesaurus words for "motor":
active, aeromotor, alembic, anvil, appliance, arc-jet engine, auto,
autocar, automobile, axial-flow turbojet, bicycle, bike, boat,
buggy, bus, caldron, cam engine, car, catch a train, charioteer,
chauffeur, convenience, crate, crucible, cycle, drive, driving,
engine, enginery, entrain, facility, fixture, gas jet, go by rail,
heap, impelling, impulse duct engine, in motion, inverted engine,
jalopy, joyride, lathe, machine, machinery, make a train,
mechanical aid, mechanical device, mechanism, melting pot, mobile,
mortar, motile, motivational, motive, motive power, motor vehicle,
motorcar, motorcycle, motorized vehicle, moving, pancake engine,
pedal, pilot, piston engine, power plant, power source, propellant,
propeller-jet engine, propelling, propjet, radial engine, ramjet,
reciprocating engine, retort, ride, rocket motor, rotary engine,
stirring, supercharged engine, take a joyride, taxi, test tube,
tool, transducer, transformer, transitional, traveling, tub,
turbine, turbojet, turboprop, utility, vertical engine, voiture,
wheel, wheels, wreck