▪ I. motor, n. and a.
(ˈməʊtə(r))
Also 7 moter.
[a. L. mōtor (whence F. moteur, Sp., Pg. motor, It. motore), agent-n. from L. movēre to move.]
A. n.
1. One who or something which imparts motion. a. first motor or prime motor [= med.L. primus motor]: † (a) in mediæval astronomy, = primum mobile 1; (b) applied (allusively) to God, as the cause of the motion of the heavens; † (c) the first instigator, or the chief director, e.g. of a plot, a political organization, etc.; † (d) the part that initiates motion in a piece of mechanism. (Cf. prime mover.)
| (a) 1586 B. Young Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iv. 197 b, How the Heauens and Planets make their neuer ceasing course, Vnder their Motor first and great, from whence they had their source. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. vi. 136 The earth is not mooved, by reason of her heavinesse,..being far from this first motor. |
| (b) 1620 Melton Astrolog. 26 From God, that is the true Prime Moter. 1678 Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. iii. iii. 51 Al our movements or motions are from God as the prime Motor... Is he not then the first Cause and Motor of al our motions? Doth not Aristotle..strongly demonstrate, That al our natural motions must arise from one first immobile Motor? 1952 G. Sarton Hist. Sci. I. xix. 498 God exists, for it is the necessary principle and end of everything, the first motor. |
| (c) 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 187 One of the first moters of this popular humour which made him king. a 1660 Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) I. 93 Bagnall that was prime motor in the counties of Katarlagh and Kilkeny. 1685 Cotton tr. Montaigne (1711) I. xxii. 149 The Fruits of publick Commotion are seldom enjoyed by him who was the first Motor. |
| (d) 1656 Artif. Handsom. 41 Whose prime moter or spring..being set true,..the outward wheeles, motions and indications cannot go amisse. |
b. An agent or force that produces mechanical motion.
| 1644 Digby Nat. Soul x. §4. 426 In heauy thinges, their easy following..an other way then downewardes, testifyeth that their motion downewardes hath an extrinsecall motor. 1674 Grew Anat. Trunks i. vi. §6 Convolvula's do not wind by any peculiar Nature..but because their Parts are disposed so, as to render them more sequaceous to the external Motor. 1685 Boyle Effects of Mot. Suppl. 147 The heavier part of the Stople broke off from the other..and was carry'd from it by invisible motors to a great distance. 1839 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 405/1 The true motor of the system would..be the weight of the atmosphere. |
c. fig. in various applications.
| 1594 Lodge & Greene Looking Glass (1598) G, Thine eyes the motors to command my world. 1641 Gauden Love of Truth 22 Love is the weight and motor of the soul. 1847 Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) I. 182 Happiness was the aim..of all men—the motor of all action. |
2. Anat. a. A muscle designed to move a particular part of the animal frame.
b. A nerve whose function it is to excite muscular activity in a particular part of the animal body.
| 1808 Barclay Muscular Motions 300 In every motion..there must always be a number of muscles employed, some as motors, some as directors, some as moderators. 1824 C. Bell Nerves 33 We cannot forget that this nerve is entirely devoted to the muscles of the tongue; that it is the motor of the tongue. 1840 Elliotson Hum. Physiol. 323 Three [nerves] conveying volition to the muscles of the eyes, the common motors [etc.]. 1846 Worcester, Motor..(Anat.) a moving muscle. |
c. A person in whom motor representations of perceptions predominate over auditory or visual ones.
| 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xviii. 62 The young savage was a motor. 1902 ― Var. Relig. Exper. xiv. 347 The shrew-type is defined as possessing an ‘active unimpassioned temperament’. In other words, shrews are the ‘motors’, rather than the ‘sensories’. 1929 J. Adams Everyman's Psychol. vii. 155 Men fall into two classes of sensories and motors... Motors have to receive sense impressions, and sensories have to send out messages leading to actions. Ibid. 156 The motor is often on the edge of action, eager to go. |
3. a. An apparatus for employing the energy of some natural agent or force for the impulsion of machinery; a machine that supplies the motive power for the propulsion of a vehicle or vessel. In recent use also in a narrower sense excluding steam engines.
| 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits v. 91 They adopt every improvement in rig, in motor, in weapons; but they fundamentally believe that the best strategem in naval war is to lay your ship close alongside of the enemy's ship. 1881 Eng. Mechanic 27 May 286/1 A water-motor sufficient to drive a sewing-machine would not be reliable to drive a lathe. 1884 Cotterill Appl. Mechanics 482 Hydraulic motors are classed according to the mode in which the water operates upon them. 1892 Electrical Engineer 16 Sept. 284/2 There is little difficulty in designing a cart to be driven by a motor, the motor also being able to be used for other purposes, such as winding a drum. |
b. Short for
motor car and
motor carriage.
| 1900 Chamb. Jrnl. 28 Apr. 344 The purchase by the Prince of Wales of a six horse-power Daimler motor should still further..popularise automobilism. 1902 A. C. Harmsworth Motors & Motor-driving 64 Many doctors who use motors have joined the Automobile Club. 1912 E. M. Forster Let. 25 Dec. in Hill of Devi (1953) 17 The Luards..got the Maharajah of Indore's motor. 1929 M. de la Roche Whiteoaks xxviii. 381 They were going by motor to the lakes. |
4. Math. An operator of quantity which represents the displacement of a rigid body.
| 1873 Clifford Math. Papers (1882) 183, I propose to call this quantity a motor; the simplest type of it being the general motion of a rigid body. And we shall say that in general the sum of rotors is a motor, but that in particular cases it may degenerate into a rotor or vector. 1878 ― Elem. Dynamic i. 125 A quantity like a twist-velocity, which has magnitude, direction, position, and pitch, is called a motor, from the twist-velocity which is the simplest example of it. |
5. attrib., designating a vehicle driven by a motor, as
motor-ambulance,
motor bicycle,
motor cab,
motor carriage,
motor-hearse,
motor-landau,
motor-lorry,
motor-plough,
motor-sledge,
motor toboggan,
motor-tractor,
motor tricycle,
motor-truck,
motor vehicle,
motor-wagon etc.; also designating sea vessels, aircraft, and other devices driven or powered by a motor, as
motor-cannon,
motor-craft,
motor-cruiser,
motor-launch,
motor-liner,
motor meter,
motor-mower,
motor-ship,
motor-sloop,
motor torpedo-boat,
motor-vessel,
motor yacht.
| 1915 Motor-ambulance [see joy-ride n.]. 1917 W. Owen Let. 25 Mar. (1967) 447, I went a joy ride on a Motor Ambulance, a Daimler. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 June 478/4 The occasional British practice of sending on billeting-parties in motor-ambulances. |
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 14 June 7/2 A newly-invented motor-bicycle. |
| 1904 Daily Chron. 8 Jan. 9/5 A motor-cab costs twice as much to build as an ordinary hansom. |
| 1889 F. R. Stockton Great War Syndicate 79 She carried one motor-cannon of large size. 1939 War Illustr. 9 Dec. 390 It was to a similar type of French engine that the first successful ‘motor-cannon’, or shell gun, firing between the arms of the ‘V’, was fitted. |
| 1896 Daily News 5 Feb. 5/3 The first International Motor-Carriage Exhibition will be held at the Imperial Institute in May. |
| 1905 Daily Chron. 17 June 9/1 The latest regulation that no small boat should ‘lock’ with a motor-craft appears to have caused considerable surprise. 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Oct. 23/2 The motor cruiser Speejacks was reported safe last night. 1936 Discovery Sept. 272/2 Charting the coast from a small motor-cruiser. 1975 Times 19 Sept. 4 (Advt.), A boat test on the fast 33{p} motor cruiser Cleopatra. |
| 1904 Daily Chron. 8 Jan. 9/5 The County Council insists that the motor hansom shall also be registered. |
| 1924 P. Creswick Beaten Path xxxiii. 180, I see there are motor-hearses now. 1973 ‘R. MacLeod’ Burial in Portugal i. 23 An elderly motor hearse with black paintwork and tarnished chrome..carried a polished oak coffin. |
| 1916 ‘R. Dehan’ Earth to Earth 73 The motor-landau in waiting for him at Covertsham Station, Deershire, was destined to receive a second passenger. |
| 1912 W. Owen Let. 31 Aug. (1967) 158, I was asked to accompany them & Vicar on a motor-launch-trip. 1935 Discovery Dec. 372/2 A little undecked motor-launch for inshore work. 1975 ‘D. Rutherford’ Mystery Tour iii. 40 The trip by motor launch through the canals. |
| 1913 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 31/1 The motor-liner above mentioned and her two sister-ships were built. 1931 Evening Standard 16 Jan. 9/1 (caption) The new motor-liner Warwick Castle leaving Belfast for her final trials. |
| 1902 Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 391 There's a heavy load of grist just in from Lamber's Wood. Eleven miles it came in an hour and a half in our new motor-lorry. 1926 Daily Chron. 13 May 2/6 Three men were each sentenced to three months hard labour for inciting a crowd of people to set fire to a railway motor lorry in the city. 1934 Discovery Apr. 94/1 In most portions of the globe explorers under the new order have the valuable aids of aeroplane and motor-lorry. |
| 1903 L. C. Reed Amer. Meter Practice iii. 37 These ten watts are the input into the motor meter, and the efficiency of this motor meter will give the ratio of the torque exerted on the armature. 1971 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) i. iv. 12 Motor meter, meter incorporating a motor. |
| 1923 Punch 15 Aug. 165 (caption) The motor-mower takes charge. 1959 Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 1 Dec. 345/2 One new motor-mower was acquired in replacement of an old one now worn out and for which spare parts are no longer available. 1972 ‘H. Carmichael’ Naked to Grave vi. 74 Through the window he saw a motor mower, cans of paint, fertilizer in paper sacks. |
| 1896 Beaumont in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 10 Jan. 161 The motor omnibus shown by Fig. 48. |
| 1901 Chambers's Jrnl. Nov. 764/2 Great things are anticipated of a new method of land culture by means of a motor-plough. 1916 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 25 July 11/3 The motor-ship City of Portland..has been given her trial trip. 1929 Times 2 Nov. 10/2 The Tuscan Star..is the first motor-ship ordered by the Blue Star Line. 1955 Times 3 May 15/6 The construction of two motor ships of about 1,300 tons deadweight, designed to operate in our short sea services. |
| 1910 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 546/2 The ‘final dash’ [to the Pole]..will be made with the help of motor-sledges. 1936 Discovery July 215/1 Captain Scott took motor-sledges to the Antarctic in 1910. |
| 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Jan. 33/3 M. Knut Stubbendorff..chartered the motor-sloop Isbjörn. 1948 New Deal for Saskatchewan Fisheries 20 Motor toboggans..manoeuver in almost any kind of terrain. |
| 1940 Motor torpedo-boat [see E-boat]. |
| 1928 Punch 29 Feb. 248/3 The world is still a stage; the ruling factors Are petrol and pink legs and motor-tractors. 1934 Discovery June 143/2 Although aircraft and motor tractor have been used they are in no sense in competition with the dog-sledge. |
| 1896 Beaumont in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 10 Jan. 152 The motor tricycle shown by Fig. 34 is an oil motor cycle made in 1883. |
| 1916 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 2 July 15/5 The iron-shod war horse of former days has evolved into the padded wheel motor car, motor truck, and motor cycle of 1916. 1937 Discovery Nov. 359/1 The sandy wastes of the Gobi are being cut to ribbons by motor-truck tyres. |
| 1898 Daily News 2 Apr. 2/6 The Post Office and Motor Vans.—A motor van service for the conveyance of the mails. |
| 1890 J. W. Quinn U.S. Pat. 431,993, I..have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Motor-Vehicles. 1937 Discovery July 194/2 The noise from motor vehicles. 1959 P. Bull I know Face ix. 148 He was referring to his motor-vehicle. |
| 1931 Daily Tel. 21 May 7/5 Pioneers of motor-vessels to the East. 1969 Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 394/1 This service is carried out by motor-vessels of 600–1,500 tons. |
| 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. June 343/2 Large warehouses have their veritable fleets of motor-wagons. 1929 J. Buchan Courts of Morning iii. i. 320 The raiders..helped themselves..loading the loot into light motor-wagons. |
| 1905 Outing May 218/2 A 90 foot motor yacht was launched late last season. 1973 ‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog i. 31 A fast, low-profile motor yacht five miles out to sea. |
b. Of, pertaining to, or designed for use in motors, motor vehicles, or motoring, as
motor accident,
motor age,
motor bonnet,
motor cap,
motor-chassis,
motor club,
motor-coat,
motor-dealer,
motor-driver,
motor fitter,
motor garage,
motor-goggles,
motor-hooter,
motor horn,
motor-house,
motor insurance,
motor lantern,
motor licence,
motor-mania,
motor-mask,
motor mechanic,
oil motor,
motor race,
motor-racing,
motor-ride,
motor-road,
motor run,
motor salesman,
motor scarf,
motor show,
motor-smash,
motor-spectacles,
motor-tour,
motor track,
motor traffic,
motor transport,
motor-travel,
motor-travelling,
motor trip,
motor trouble,
motor tyre,
motor-veil.
| 1910 ‘Saki’ Reginald in Russia 17 What I had mistaken for a motor accident was evidently a case of savage assault and murder. 1972 M. Yorke Silent Witness vi. 123 Roy's father had been killed in a motor accident. |
| 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 317/1 The influence of..the motor age. 1963 Daily Tel. 28 Nov. 16/2 The root of the trouble is that our cities were never built for the motor age. |
| 1910 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 604/2 My wife..had been patiently sitting in the hall wearing a new motor-bonnet. 1937 J. Laver Taste & Fashion x. 151 The latest trimming for these motor bonnets. |
| 1906 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 5 Jan. 3/4 (Advt.), Motor Caps. 50c, 75c, $1.00 reduced to 40c. 1907 Motor cap [see ear-flap]. 1915 Pearson's Mag. Jan. 25 Great lines of these old motor-chassis, mounted with a serviceable lorry body, are to be met with on all the roads of France. 1934 Amer. Speech IX. 111/1 Such motor clubs as the A.A.A., the A.M.A., and the Automobile Club of Southern California. |
| 1909 W. J. Locke Septimus iv. 57 Shrugging himself into his motor-coat, which the chauffeur brought him. 1910 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 480/1 A long leather motor-coat. 1937 Discovery May 164/1 Motor dealers in South America..order what they need by air mail. |
| 1902 Pall Mall Mag. XXVIII. 410/1 Should motor drivers be subject to an examination as to proficiency? 1968 J. H. Burn Lect. Notes Pharmacol. (ed. 9) 7 It is good for a motor-driver driving through the night. |
| 1961 Evening Standard 26 July 22/6 Skilled..motor fitter required. 1973 Times 16 Oct. 6/8 Christopher Smart, aged 25, a motor fitter. 1974 P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry ix. 77 He's a mechanic, but he'd rather be called a motor fitter. |
| 1902 Motor garage [see garage n. 1]. 1922 W. J. Locke Tale of Triona xxiv. 273 An ex-officer..who has just set up a motor garage. |
| 1914 Beerbohm Seven Men (1919) 127 He did not wear motor-goggles. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 483 In motor jerkin, green motorgoggles on his brow. |
| 1911 Beerbohm Zuleika D. xix. 291 All along the soaked towing-path lay strewn the horns, the rattles, the motor-hooters, that the youths had flung aside. |
| 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. June 401/1 The predominant sounds..were not those of wheels or whistles or motor-horns. 1931 M. Allingham Look to Lady x. 105 The squawk of a motor-horn. 1970 V. Canning Great Affair xii. 211 A chorus of motor horns began to blow in anger at some road block. |
| 1902 D. Salomons in A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors vi. 84 A well-built motor-house should cost nothing in the up⁓keep. 1971 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 18 June 33/4 There is the medium-sized house with its own tennis court and ‘motor house’, as garages were first called. |
| 1955 Times 3 May 16/1 Motor insurance, which constitutes a substantial portion of our Accident business. 1975 Times 24 Sept. 3/2 The estimated cost of motor insurance premiums in 1975 was {pstlg}580m. |
| 1914 Chesterton Flying Inn xxi. 248 Humphrey had hung one of the motor lanterns on to a branch. |
| 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 413/2 The motor licence case. 1957 Railway Mag. June 392/1 The beginnings of a reaction from the worst of motor-mania are bringing the uninitiated back on to the narrow gauge. 1966 Punch 16 Feb. 232 The ingenuity, energy and wealth that mechanised intellectual Peter Pans devote to indulgence of their motor-mania. |
| 1916 War Illustr. V. 451/3 Our goggles..are shaped like a motor-mask. 1930 Daily Express 6 Oct. 7/4 James Horn, aged thirty-one, a motor mechanic. 1961 Evening Standard 25 July 15/1 (Advt.), Motor Mechanics required. |
| 1939 G. B. Shaw Geneva ii. 45 Motor oil is a sanction when you withhold it. Castor oil is a sanction when you administer it. |
| 1900 Racing Rules & Regulations (Motor Car Club) 11 In all Motor Races held under the Rules of the Motor Car Club it must be stated on all Entry Forms..that they are so held. 1936 J. B. Priestley They walk in City iii. 41 An aeroplane parade, a motor race, a parade of cadets. |
| 1905 Official Programme Internat. Tourist Trophy 4 A new departure in the history of motor racing. 1956 Nature 11 Feb. 246/2 The establishment of a motor-racing circuit on public roads in the Peak District National Park. 1974 J. Gardner Corner Men. ii. 19 Most of the books were..concerned with motor cars or motor-racing. |
| 1914 Chesterton Flying Inn xx. 241 You owe me a motor-ride, you know. 1919 G. B. Shaw Inca of Perusalem Prologue in Heartbreak House 234 Dresses, hats, furs, gloves, motor rides: one bill after another. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 2/2 Of more dramatic interest is the second part of the Bill, with its proposal for the creation of motor-roads. 1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (1935) vii. lxxxii. 457 Gilman and Dowsett..had spent months in Wadi Itm, building, like engineers, a motor road through the gorge. 1949 Archit. Rev. CV. 118/1 The average speed of 30 m.p.h. here allowed for the surface plan is high, but, even allowing this figure, the advantage of elevated motor-roads is obvious. 1975 Listener 14 Aug. 199/1 A new motor road roaring past their windows. |
| 1936 Joyce Let. 18 Nov. (1966) III. 393 Perhaps you could make your suggested motor run to the school at Zug? 1936 J. B. Priestley They walk in City i. 17 Mysterious and vaguely amorous gentlemen friends, usually commercial travellers or motor salesman, loom and soar and suddenly vanish. 1973 A. Behrend Samarai Affair vi. 65 That Bromborough motor salesman chap separated from his wife. |
| 1899 in A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping (1964) xxii. 261 Motor scarves. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 28 Apr. 20/6 Waterproof Motor Scarf of good size..each 75¢. |
| 1905 S. A. Barnett Let. 2 Dec. in H. Barnett Canon Barnett (1918) II. 194 We have been to the Motor Show, when vast Olympia was crammed by a fashionable crowd. 1965 A. Christie At Bertram's Hotel i. 13 He could talk racing shop, cricket..give Motor Show information. 1972 Nature 31 Mar. 193/1 It is difficult to believe that international motor shows are instrumental in selling cars. |
| 1916 W. Owen Let. 3 July (1967) 398, I was so happy to learn that your motor-smash came to no harm. 1931 R. Lehmann Letter to Sister 22 Things happen to you... You have been in a motor smash. |
| 1911 D. H. Lawrence White Peacock ii. iii. 262 She disengaged her arms to take off his disfiguring motor-spectacles. |
| 1909 London Mag. Sept. 18/2 Excursions through the sky..are to become as common as motor-tours. 1915 J. Buchan 39 Steps iv. 90 That's the end of my Scotch motor tour. 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 19 Oct. 301/2 Motor traffic and the urbanisation of large rural stretches are producing a hideous outbreak of advertisement hoardings, petrol pumps..and gaunt new motor-tracks. 1933 G. Robey Looking Back on Life xxviii. 306 Lord Dewar..made the famous epigram about there being only two classes of pedestrians in these days of reckless motor traffic—the quick, and the dead. |
| 1926 Brit. Gaz. 12 May 2/4 At Liverpool there have been a few cases of interference with motor transport, for which heavy sentences have been inflicted. 1936 Discovery June 189/1 An ever-extending network of good macadamised roads is increasingly introducing the use of motor transport. |
| 1923 A. E. Housman Let. 18 Aug. (1971) 215 Blazing hot all the time while motor-travel could temper it [sc. the weather]. |
| 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. June 342/2 Putting the accidents on railways and on the roads together, motor-travelling included. 1934 Joyce Let. 25 Apr. (1966) III. 304, I was swept off..to make my first motor trip. 1950 M. Laski in Contact May–June 26/1 It is, of course, possible to take an extended motor-trip abroad without ever coming into contact with the Art of Navigation. |
| 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 55/1 Cleaver and Latham dropped into the Mediterranean..because of motor trouble. |
| 1907 Nature 14 Feb. 383/1 Chemical composition of some motor-tyre rubbers. 1937 Discovery June 186/1 The wayside was strewn with motor tyres and broken down cars. 1970 Y. Carter Mr. Campion's Falcon vii. 59 Packing-cases, old motor tyres, drums of paint. |
| 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 320 d/3 Motor veil. In Crêpe de Chine. 1926 W. de la Mare Connoisseur 70 She was a rare one for the fashions: scarves and motor-veils, and that kind of thing. |
c. Instrumental, as
motor-assisted,
motor-driven,
motor-dusted,
motor-infested,
motor-mad,
motor-paced adjs.| 1954 Highway Code 32 To motor cyclists and riders of motor-assisted pedal cycles..you must not carry more than one passenger on a two-wheeled machine. |
| 1904 Motor Cycle 6 June 551 A motor-driven roundabout. 1937 Discovery Dec. 387/1 The motor-driven fan. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes v. 168 Motor-driven lenses, or hit-or-miss methods involving tricky out-of-focus photographic and lighting techniques are used. 1974 H. R. F. Keating Bats fly up for Inspector Ghote iii. 31 A powerful motor-driven dhow. |
| 1909 M. B. Saunders Litany Lane iii. xviii. 236 His eyes were fixed on the white, motor-dusted hedges. 1909 Q. Rev. Jan. 143 This singularly congested and motor-infested country. 1931 T. H. Pear Voice & Personality 43 Today's world of motor-infested ‘beauty-spots’. |
| 1922 W. J. Locke Tale of Triona xxvi. 292 England ran motor-mad that summer. 1938 Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Year 100/1 Mills also set up a new record of 2 mins. 11/5 secs. for the mile, standing start, unpaced; while Albert Marquet did the distance in 412/5 secs. from a flying start and motor paced. 1973 Observer 16 Sept. 26/6 Instead of winning a motor-paced race by 10 laps, he would come from behind in the final lap to take it on the line. |
6. motor-bandit Obs., a thief who uses a motor car;
motor-bicycle v. intr., to travel on a motor bicycle (
rare); so
motor-bicycling vbl. n.,
motor-bicyclist;
motor-bike = motor-cycle n.; hence as
v. intr., to travel on a motor-bike; so
motor-biking vbl. n.;
motor-bus, a motor-driven omnibus; hence as
v. intr., to travel by motor-bus;
motor camp orig. U.S., a place where a motorist may park his car and set up camp;
motor caravan, (
a) a caravan designed to be towed by a motor car; (
b) (see
quot. 1964);
motor-coach, (
a) a single-decker motor-bus; (
b) (see
quot. 1940);
motor-coaster, (
a) a motorized vessel employed in sailing along the coast; (
b) a type of big dipper at a fun-fair;
motor cop U.S. colloq. = motor-cycle cop;
motor court U.S., (
a) (see
quot. 1936); (
b) a motel;
motor-drive, (
a) a drive or journey in a motor-car; (
b) driving power provided by a motor or engine;
motordrome Obs., a course for motor-racing;
motor generator Electr., an apparatus consisting of an electric motor and a generator with their armature shafts mechanically coupled which may be used to change the voltage, frequency, or number of phases of a supply;
motor glider, an aircraft constructed like a glider but having an engine (now used in training glider pilots);
motor-home N. Amer., a very large vehicle equipped as a self-contained home;
motor hotel, a hotel designed particularly for use by motorists; a motel;
motor inn = motor hotel;
motor lodge, a motel;
motor mate Obs., one who attends to the motor of an airship;
motor mouth U.S. slang, a person who talks incessantly, and often to little purpose;
motor park, (
a)
U.S. = motor court (
a); (
b) a car-park;
motor-sailer, a boat equipped with both sails and a motor;
motor-school, a school where the driving of motor vehicles is taught;
motor-scooter, a two- or three-wheeled vehicle resembling a child's scooter, propelled by a small engine; hence
motor-scooterist, one who rides a motor-scooter.
| 1913 Punch 19 Feb. 133/3 On top of all this Motor Bandit business comes the news that two men have been charged..with breaking into a bakery and stealing a sponge-cake, value one penny. 1935 Ibid. 6 Mar. 253/3 Returning from a jumble sale a man was held up by a motor-bandit. 1960 J. Betjeman Summoned by Bells v. 49 He motor-bicycled his life away, Looking for orchids in the Wytham Woods. |
| 1912 W. Owen Let. 16 Aug. (1967) 155 Captain Wigan has had a motor-bicycling accident! |
| 1908 R. Brooke Let. 4 Aug. (1968) 136 Abercrombie..is a Metrical Motor Bicyclist, a mumbly Wump, but often splendid. |
| 1903 Work 18 Apr. 176/3 (Advt.), Motor Bike, 1½-h-p. 1911 W. Elmhirst Freshman's Diary (1969) 20 He went over to Malvern yesterday on his motor bike. 1927 H. G. Wells Short Stories 627, I remember my wild rush on my motor-bike to London. 1944 F. Clune Red Heart 33 He motor-biked to Alice Springs. 1958 J. Betjeman Coll. Poems 224 Along the village street the sunset strikes On young men tuning up their motor-bikes. 1972 M. Gee In my Father's Den 27 That motor-bike gang. |
| 1913 G. B. Shaw Let. 21 Mar. in B. Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 100 It looked like a superb stroke of motorbiking. |
| 1901 H. G. Wells in Strand Mag. Dec. 623/2 ‘You really think such a thing is possible?’.. ‘As possible,’ said Gibberne, and glanced at something that went throbbing by the window, ‘as a motor-bus.’ 1914 A. D. Godley Let. 10 Jan. in Reliquiae (1926) I. 292 What is this that roareth thus? Can it be a Motor Bus? 1915 D. O. Barnett Lett. 39 We came on from our last stopping place, whither we motor-bused, in a car. 1972 Daily Tel. 24 Mar. 15/1 Trolleys were a merger of motorbus and tram. |
| 1925 Sat. Even. Post 10 Oct. 98/1 The average motor camp is too well known to need any description. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 4 July 1/4 Motor Camp is Winning Favor. 1970 N.Z. Listener 21 Dec. 8/3 Don't join a joker in a motor camp cabin for the night... Try yelling for help in a motor camp in the holiday season, mate. |
| 1930 Daily Express 1 Aug. 9/2 The most modern form of holiday transport—the motor-caravan, or trailer caravan. 1959 Motor 7 Oct. 246 Motor Caravans as practical vehicles. 1964 Which? Apr. 35/1 A motor caravan is basically an ordinary van that has been fitted with windows, beds and cupboards, a table, cooker and sink. |
| 1923 Motor coach [see coach n. 1 e]. 1926 Times 6 May 3/5 Intimidation of owners and drivers of motor-cars and motor-coaches plying for public hire is reported to-day in several localities. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 559/2 Motor-coach, a passenger coach, equipped with its own motors, for use on electrified railways; it is commonly used in conjunction with trailer coaches to make up a multiple-unit train. 1958 J. Betjeman Coll. Poems 153 Then the mystery tour By motor-coach inland this afternoon. 1972 Modern Railways Sept. 334 Bob [sc. Berner Oberland Bahn] trains are motorcoach-hauled and not fitted for push-pull operation. 1973 J. Porter It's Murder with Dover v. 42 All the cars and motor coaches..streaming through the village. |
| 1928 Daily Express 5 Dec. 11/4 It is feared that the London motor-coaster, Wander (82 tons), has been lost, with a crew of five. 1974 Amer. Speech 1971 XLVI. 84 Fast-moving amusement rides on elevated rails: toboggan, high rides,..shoot the chutes, motor coasters. |
| 1915 Policeman's Monthly Oct. 14/1 The motor cops were brought in on the ‘carpet’. 1918 R. Wagner Film Folk 23 If one goes home some afternoon and finds an ambulance or a motor cop outside the door, he instinctively looks for the camera. 1936 Pop. Mechanics LXVI. 674/1 The motor court is a recent development of the motor age. It's not a tourist park, it's not an auto camp... It's a collection of miniature homes clustered around a central service and administration building. 1962 I. Fleming Spy who loved Me i. 15 ‘Motel’ isn't a good word any longer. It has become smart to use ‘Motor Court’ or ‘Ranch Cabins’. |
| 1906 Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) II. 221 The details of the motor-drive are quite plausible. 1936 Discovery Apr. 113/2 The compressor, or vacuum pump, has an independent motor drive. 1971 Amateur Photographer 13 Jan. 51/1 The exposure system is powered by the motor drive batteries but a bridge circuit makes it independent of their precise voltage as they run down. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 4 Aug. 4/3 Mr. Locke-King has spent a large fortune in building this wonderful motordrome. |
| 1887 Electrician 2 Dec. 74/1 We are enabled to reproduce photographs and sectional drawings of the Paris and Scott motor generator which recently underwent some tests at the Newcastle Exhibition. 1907 Parshall & Hobart Electr. Railway Engin. ix. 351 The locomotive is equipped with a motor-generator set comprising a single-phase motor directly connected to a continuous-current generator. 1930 Engineering 28 Feb. 278/2 The electrical load is consequently divided between the steam-driven sets and motor-generator sets in accordance with the demand for heating steam. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. VIII. 617/1 Motor-generator sets are used for a variety of purposes, such as providing a precisely regulated dc current for a welding application, a high frequency ac power for an induction-heating application, or a continuously and rapidly adjustable dc voltage to the armature of a dc motor employed in a position control system. |
| 1923 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXVII. 531 One of the things that instantly occurred to most people..was that the motor glider heralded the dawn of a new era in commercial aeronautics. 1969 Sailplane & Gliding XX. 491/2 The flying training will be based on glider and motor glider experience. 1971 D. Piggott Gliding (ed. 3) i. 8 The two-seater motor glider has proved an unqualified success for all stages of training. |
| 1966 Economist 15 Jan. 181/1 There is the ‘motor home’, especially built on a lorry or bus chassis, an elaborate ‘land yacht’. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 38/9 (Advt.), Wanted Motor home, used, good condition. 1973 Sci. Amer. Apr. 1/1 (Advt.), These air springs are the only ones of their kind on motorhomes. 1974 Trailer Life Nov. 92 Writers, editors and publishers, who formerly had only the word trailer to contend with when referring to recreational vehicles now had to wrestle with trailers, pickup campers, chassis-mounts and the few then-existing motorhomes. |
| 1965 Punch 1 Dec. 798 They call themselves motor lodges, motor courts, motor hotels, even tourtels and autotels, but motel is the word that blisters the night sky of the American suburbs. 1967 Autocar 5 Oct. 44/1 (caption) New motor hotels—not motels—specially designed for motorists, are being opened by the Trust House group. |
| 1967 Time 21 Apr. 25, 46 restaurants and six motor inns. 1974 Country Life 21 Mar. 693/2 This privately owned Motor Inn situated on the water's edge. |
| 1965 Motor lodge [see motor hotel]. 1975 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 24 May 10/2 Judge Dunlap dismissed two charges of procuring, one of attempting to procure and a charge of keeping a common bawdy house in a motor lodge here. |
| 1928 C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station xxii. 411 One of the motor-mates of the amidships gondola raised the black curtain. |
| 1971 Soaring July 6 (caption) The motormouth..can be heard broadcasting across three states any weekend. 1977 National Observer (U.S.) 22 Jan. 12/1 The increasing number of ‘motor mouths’ posing as sports broadcasters,..statisticians and whatever. 1986 Washington Post 22 May d11/1 [They] have been cut from the same inspirational motormouth mold...They'll invite you into their office..and break every bone in your inner ear. |
| 1939 New Yorker 14 Oct. 72 The usual phrase for cabin colonies in California is ‘auto court’; ‘motor park’, perhaps copied from ‘trail park’. 1965 W. Soyinka Road i. 1 The motor-park lay⁓abouts are sprawled on the floor and on benches. 1972 C. Achebe Girls at War 60 Everybody, even a motor-park tout, knows what school fees are for. |
| 1934 Yachting (N.Y.) Jan. 39 A consideration of the motor-sailer. 1937 [see fifty-fifty adv. and a.]. 1971 J. R. L. Anderson Reckoning in Ice vi. 111 His boat was what is called a motor-sailer, which generally means..more engine than sail. 1974 Country Life 24 Jan. 153/1 We have pure sailing craft, motor sailers and motor yachts, excellently crewed..from {pstlg}15 to {pstlg}100 per person per day. |
| 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. June 342/1 The..gentleman..is now getting his country grooms trained at a motor-school. 1919 Motor-scooter [see buller n.4]. 1938 Times 28 Feb. 12/2 He then tears down the course on a motor-scooter. 1956 Railway Mag. Nov. 722/2 Goods agents..have been provided with motor scooters, to enable them to cover ground more quickly. 1957 J. I. M. Stewart Use of Riches 58 The age of the motor-scooter had brought little of modernity to Castelarbia as yet. 1960 News Chron. 22 Mar. 7/8, I saw White running behind one of the motor-scooterists. 1965 J. Creasey Toff & Spider ii. 22 The motor-scooterist had turned into the Square and was slowing down. |
B. adj. [After F.
moteur,
motrice, which like other agent-nouns in
Fr. is often used as
adj.]
1. Giving, imparting or producing motion.
| 1872 Lyell Princ. Geol. (1875) I. ii. xx. 506 The accelerating force produced..would be inefficient as a motor power. 1880 Kinglake Crimea VI. iv. 75 The second of the three motor forces had its origin in the same puissant will. 1899 Daily News 15 June 6/5 The motor power of the future was not to be steam..but electricity. |
2. Phys. Of nerves (opposed to
sensory), muscles, etc.: Conveying or imparting an impulse which results or tends to result in motion. So
motor area (
motor region,
motor zone): that part of the cortex of the brain from which motor impulses are directed to the various parts of the animal body;
motor cortex, the part of the cerebral cortex which has a motor function;
motor neurone, a neurone having a motor function;
motor root, the anterior or ventral root of spinal or certain cranial nerves, containing axons of motor neurones;
motor unit, a neuroanatomical unit which comprises a single motor neurone and the muscle fibres on which it acts.
| 1824 C. Bell Nerves 30 The motor nerves. 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 372/1 Those [sc. ganglia] which have connected with them both motor and sentient nerves. 1839–47 Ibid. III. 720/2 A nerve may contain sentient and motor fibres. 1840 E. Wilson Anatomist's Vade Mecum viii. 387 There are thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves, each arising by two roots, an anterior or motor root, and a posterior or sensitive root. 1848 E. Forbes Naked-eyed Medusæ 3 The muscular system usually consists of a marginal motor ring. 1878 Jrnl. Nerv. & Mental Dis. V. 766 The largest nerves of the human body (sciatics) arise precisely from that point of the lumbar cord where we find the largest, so-called motor, cells. 1881 Nature XXIII. 236 Reactions of the motor-zone of the brain. 1885 M{supc}Kendrick in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 41/1 The evidence, therefore, is strongly in favour of the view that there are definite motor areas of grey matter on the cortex. 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. ii. 61 The motor cortex might be sensitive as well as motor. 1893 W. R. Gowers Man. Dis. Nerv. Syst. (ed. 2) II. 4 This [parietal lobule] also forms part of the motor region. 1898 Jrnl. Compar. Neurol. VII. 185 The neuraxis of the motor neuron loses its medullary sheath before piercing the sarcolemma. 1925 Liddell & Sherrington in Proc. R. Soc. B. XCVII. 516 The experimental results suggest that a reflex maintains maximal response of the individual ‘motor-unit’ by a degree of central excitation which is commonly ‘supramaximal’. 1926 J. S. Huxley Essays Pop. Sci. 286 The rest of the [spinal] cord, however, and in particular the motor areas and motor roots, show no increase in size, showing that the number of muscle-fibres to be supplied does not stimulate the growth of the supplying cells. 1942 O. Larsell Anat. Nervous Syst. xxiv. 326 The upper motor neuron fibers of the pyramidal tract terminate in synaptic relation to large motor cells in the anterior column of the gray matter of the spinal cord. 1970 M. Hollander tr. Monnier's Functions Nervous Syst. II. xxvi. 572 (heading) Functions of the motor cortex and pyramidal system. 1970 J. G. Chusid Correlative Neuroanat. & Functional Neurol. (ed. 14) ii. 76/2 The motor unit is made up of the anterior horn cell of the spinal cord and the muscle group it innervates. 1973 Gray's Anat. (ed. 35) 1002/2 The motor nucleus of the trigeminal nerve gives rise to the fibres of the motor root. 1974 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Studies III. xxxiv. 53/2 Motor neurone disease may present with any combination of upper and lower motor neurone signs. |
3. Of, pertaining to, or involving muscular movement; based upon or received through the movement of parts of the body.
| 1878 tr. Ziemssen's Cycl. Pract. Med. XIII. 474 Motor pareses and paralyses. 1880 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 163 Wundt says that were our motor feelings of an afferent nature, ‘it ought to be expected that they would increase and diminish with the amount of inner or outer work actually effected in contraction.’ 1884 J. Sully Outl. Psychol. vii. 247 In general the motor representations are weak as compared with the sensory. 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xix. 131 The facts shade off into the phenomena of motor automatism, trance, etc. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 790 Unilateral motor trigeminal palsy. 1899 A. G. Whyte tr. Binet's Psychol. of Reasoning 24 When we think of the ball, this idea must comprise the images of these muscular sensations, as it comprises the images of the sensations of sight and touch. Such is the motor image. 1925 C. Fox Educational Psychol. 228 Walking is not bringing into use unconscious motor-images. 1936 Amer. Speech XI. 88/2 Speech responses are so complex that they can hardly be considered identical with motor reflexes. 1942 A. T. Poffenberger Princ. Appl. Psychol. vi. 105 The fineness of motor control or coördination is..an essential factor in many forms of adjustment. 1951 A. D. Woodruff Psychol. of Teaching (ed. 3) xvi. 270 Motor behavior that is guided by perceptual cues, such as playing the piano. 1951 C. I. Hovland in S. S. Stevens Handbk. Exper. Psychol. xvii. 627/2 An important change with practice in motor learning is change in muscular tension. 1958 M. Argyle Relig. Behaviour v. 56 Evidence drawn from actual studies of conversion shows that people converted at public meetings are more easily hypnotized, display more motor automatisms and can therefore be classified to some extent as hysterics. 1962 Canadian Jrnl. Linguistics VII. 65 The assumption that the ability to speak is simply a motor-skill which can be measured by tests of imitation and reading aloud. 1969 Miller & McNeill in Lindzey & Aronson Handbk. Social Psychol. (ed. 2) III. xxvi. 687 At the other [extreme] would be the so-called ‘motor theory’ of speech, which holds that a listener can recognize speech only by imitating (at least covertly) the motor movements that would produce it. 1971 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXV. 208 In the events intervening between stimulus input and motor output, there is ordinarily first the operation of cognition. |
▪ II. motor, v. (
ˈməʊtə(r))
[f. the n.] a. trans. To convey in a motor car; to traverse (a distance) in a motor vehicle; also
intr., to travel or drive in a motor car.
| 1896 Westm. Gaz. 10 Sept. 7/2 The cost of ‘motoring’ cotton to Manchester. 1898 Autocar 11 June 379 On May 12th my wife and I motored. Ibid. 18 June 392 We motored back. 1919 Wodehouse Damsel in Distress viii. 103, I motored down with a boy I know. 1928 ‘S. S. Van Dine’ Greene Murder Case xii. 141 Vance and Ada and I motored the few blocks to 18, Broad Street. 1932 J. Buchan Gap in Curtain i. 31 Mayot had motored to Cirencester to meet a friend. 1972 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 27 Oct. 86/3 From Sidmouth I walked (though most people motor) to Salcombe Regis. 1972 Listener 21 Dec. 849/1 If we were opening a show with a Boxing Day matinee, we should have finished rehearsing on Friday night and then have motored to our respective homes. |
b. intr. To travel in a motor-boat; to use the engine in a sailing-boat.
| 1968 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Singing Bird xiii. 147 ‘You don't deny you were motoring?’ Johnson kept his voice reasonable. ‘We used the engine..to South Rona and back. At Portree, we changed over to sail.’ 1971 P. M. Hubbard High Tide xiii. 134 There was no wind to sail with. I could motor down river and hope to pick up something of a sailing breeze outside. |