motor
a comparatively small and powerful engine, especially an internal-combustion engine in an automobile, motorboat, or the like.
any self-powered vehicle.
a person or thing that imparts motion, especially a contrivance, as a steam engine, that receives and modifies energy from some natural source in order to utilize it in driving machinery.
Also called electric motor. Electricity. a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy, as an induction motor.
motors, stocks or bonds in automobile companies.
pertaining to or operated by a motor.
of, for, by, or pertaining to motor vehicles: motor freight.
designed or for automobiles, their drivers, or their passengers: The hotel has a motor lobby in its parking garage for picking up and discharging passengers.
causing or producing motion.
Physiology. conveying an impulse that results or tends to result in motion, as a nerve.
Psychology, Physiology.Also motoric. of, relating to, or involving muscular movement: a motor response; motor images.
to ride or travel in an automobile; drive: They motored up the coast.
Chiefly British. to drive or transport by car: He motored his son to school.
Origin of motor
1Other words from motor
- mul·ti·mo·tor, noun
Words Nearby motor
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use motor in a sentence
When a fan is driven by a motor, air enters the back and accelerates out the front.
The science behind how an aircraft glides | By Peter Garrison/Flying Mag | September 3, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThough air pollution vastly improved in recent decades—thanks largely to technology and policy aimed at motor vehicles—it remains a problem in many large cities.
For another, they’re smart cookies, meaning they can be trained to walk on a treadmill while the implant records from their motor cortex to predict the movement of each joint.
Neuralink’s Wildly Anticipated New Brain Implant: the Hype vs. the Science | Shelly Fan | September 1, 2020 | Singularity HubMost vehicles today house internal-combustion engines, but cars with electric motors are gaining ground.
50 years ago, scientists were trying to develop a low-emission car | Erin Garcia de Jesus | September 1, 2020 | Science NewsWhatever the class, federal law restricts “low speed electric bicycle” motors with 750 watts of power.
Do You Want to Buy an E-Cargo Bike? Read This First. | Joe Lindsey | August 30, 2020 | Outside Online
They can hear the sound of his boat's motor, growing louder as it comes over the horizon.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe female fan base tends to hold steady at 38 percent, according to Amanda Regan, a spokeswoman for Feld motor Sports.
The Moms of Monster Jam Drive Trucks, Buck Macho Culture | Eliza Krigman | November 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe power delivered by the rocket motor was uneven and tricky to control.
Virgin Galactic’s Flight Path to Disaster: A Clash of High Risk and Hyperbole | Clive Irving | November 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe turbulent waters caused one of his oars to crack, which—without a motor or a sail—can be severely detrimental to his voyage.
Victor Mooney’s Epic Adventure for His Dead Brother | Justin Jones | October 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTRolls Royce motor Cars is a subsidiary of BMW, who make the engines.
To think,” said the younger Englishwoman to her sister, “of this wee mite travelling about in an open motor!
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol | William J. LockeUnder these conditions, the large motor B collapses and the pull-down P (which is connected with the organ pallet) rises.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building | George Laing MillerA big gray sedan stood in the middle of the road, the motor idling.
The action of the springs now serves to close the valves V, V1, and to open out the motor M, whereupon the process is repeated.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building | George Laing MillerAs the valve V1 is open, the sound waves formed in the pipe P1 will govern the speed of vibration of the motor M.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building | George Laing Miller
British Dictionary definitions for motor
/ (ˈməʊtə) /
the engine, esp an internal-combustion engine, of a vehicle
(as modifier): a motor scooter
Also called: electric motor a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy by means of the forces exerted on a current-carrying coil placed in a magnetic field
any device that converts another form of energy into mechanical energy to produce motion
an indispensable part or player that moves a process or system along
mainly British a car or other motor vehicle
as modifier: motor spares
producing or causing motion
physiol
of or relating to nerves or neurons that carry impulses that cause muscles to contract
of or relating to movement or to muscles that induce movement
(intr) to travel by car
(tr) British to transport by car
(intr) informal to move fast; make good progress
(tr) to motivate
Origin of motor
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for motor
[ mō′tər ]
A machine that uses energy, such as electric or chemical energy (as from burning a fuel), to produce mechanical motion. See also engine.
Involving the muscles or the nerves that are connected to them. Compare sensory.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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