[syn: driver, number one wood]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Spanker \Spank"er\ (sp[a^][ng]k"[~e]r), n.
1. One who spanks, or anything used as an instrument for
spanking.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Naut.) The after sail of a ship or bark, being a
fore-and-aft sail attached to a boom and gaff; --
sometimes called driver. See Illust. under Sail.
--Totten.
[1913 Webster]
3. One who takes long, quick strides in walking; also, a fast
horse. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
4. Something very large, or larger than common; a whopper, as
a stout or tall person. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
Spanker boom (Naut.), a boom to which a spanker sail is
attached. See Illust. of Ship.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Driver \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.
[1913 Webster]
2. The person who drives beasts or a carriage; a coachman; a
charioteer, etc.; hence, also, one who controls the
movements of a any vehicle.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
3. An overseer of a gang of slaves or gang of convicts at
their work.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Naut.) The after sail in a ship or bark, being a
fore-and-aft sail attached to a gaff; a spanker. --Totten.
[1913 Webster]
6. An implement used for driving; as:
(a) A mallet.
(b) A tamping iron.
(c) A cooper's hammer for driving on barrel hoops.
(d) A wooden-headed golf club with a long shaft, for
playing the longest strokes.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Driver ant (Zool.), 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.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
driver
n 1: the operator of a motor vehicle [ant: nondriver]
2: someone who drives animals that pull a vehicle
3: a golfer who hits the golf ball with a driver
4: (computer science) a program that determines how a computer
will communicate with a peripheral device [syn: driver,
device driver]
5: a golf club (a wood) with a near vertical face that is used
for hitting long shots from the tee [syn: driver, number
one wood]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
112 Moby Thesaurus words for "driver":
Jehu, Simon Legree, Sunday driver, absolute monarch,
absolute ruler, agent, airscrew, all-powerful ruler, arrogator,
autarch, autocrat, backseat driver, boy, bullwhacker, bus driver,
busman, butler, cabby, cabdriver, cabman, caesar, cameleer, carter,
cartman, charioteer, chauffeur, coachman, coachy, cocher, cochero,
commissar, conductor, czar, despot, dictator, disciplinarian,
drayman, duce, elephant driver, engineer, equerry, fan,
functionary, gardener, gentleman, gharry-wallah, gillie, hack,
hackdriver, hackman, hacky, handler, hard master, harness racer,
hit-and-run driver, houseboy, houseman, impeller, jitney driver,
joyrider, lord-in-waiting, mahout, man, manipulator, manservant,
martinet, motorist, mule skinner, muleteer, oligarch, operant,
operative, operator, oppressor, paddle wheel, pharaoh, pilot,
piston, prop, propellant, propeller, propulsor, reinsman, road hog,
rotor, runner, screw, screw propeller, skinner, slave driver,
speeder, stage coachman, steersman, stickler, taxidriver, teamster,
truck driver, trucker, truckman, turbine, twin screws, tyrant,
usurper, valet, valet de chambre, vetturino, voiturier, wagoner,
wagonman, warlord, wheel, whip
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
driver
n.
1. The main loop of an event-processing program; the code that gets
commands and dispatches them for execution.
2. [techspeak] In device driver, code designed to handle a particular
peripheral device such as a magnetic disk or tape unit.
3. In the TeX world and the computerized typesetting world in general, a
program that translates some device-independent or other common format to
something a real device can actually understand.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
driver
drivers
1. device driver.
2. The main loop of an event-processing
program; the code that gets commands and dispatches them for
execution.
3. In the TeX world and the computerised typesetting
world in general, a program that translates some
device-independent or other common format to something a real
device can actually understand.
[Jargon File]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
DRIVER. One employed in conducting a coach, carriage, wagon, or other
vehicle, with horses, mules, or other animals.
2. Frequent accidents occur in consequence of the neglect or want of
skill of drivers of public stage coaches, for which the employers are
responsible.
3. The law requires that a driver should possess reasonable skill and
be of good habits for the journey; if, therefore, he is not acquainted with
the road he undertakes to drive; 3 Bingh. Rep. 314, 321; drives with reins
so loose that he cannot govern his horses; 2 Esp. R. 533; does not give
notice of any serious danger on the road; 1 Camp. R. 67; takes the wrong
side of the road; 4 Esp. R. 273; incautiously comes in collision with
another carriage; 1 Stark. R. 423; 1 Campb. R. 167; or does not exercise a
sound and reasonable discretion in travelling on the road, to avoid dangers
and difficulties, and any accident happens by which any passenger is
injured, both the driver and his employers will be responsible. 2 Stark. R.
37; 3 Engl. C. L. Rep. 233; 2 Esp. R. 533; 11. Mass. 57; 6 T. R. 659; 1
East, R. 106; 4 B. & A. 590; 6 Eng. C. L. R. 528; 2 Mc Lean, R. 157. Vide
Common carriers Negligence; Quasi Offence.