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motor

 - 5 dictionary results

mo⋅tor

[moh-ter]
–noun
1. a comparatively small and powerful engine, esp. an internal-combustion engine in an automobile, motorboat, or the like.
2. any self-powered vehicle.
3. a person or thing that imparts motion, esp. a contrivance, as a steam engine, that receives and modifies energy from some natural source in order to utilize it in driving machinery.
4. Also called electric motor. Electricity. a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy, as an induction motor.
5. motors, stocks or bonds in automobile companies.
–adjective
6. pertaining to or operated by a motor.
7. of, for, by, or pertaining to motor vehicles: motor freight.
8. 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.
9. causing or producing motion.
10. Physiology. conveying an impulse that results or tends to result in motion, as a nerve.
11. Psychology, Physiology. Also, motoric. of, pertaining to, or involving muscular movement: a motor response; motor images.
–verb (used without object)
12. to ride or travel in an automobile; drive: They motored up the coast.
–verb (used with object)
13. Chiefly British. to drive or transport by car: He motored his son to school.

Origin:
1580–90; < L mōtor mover, equiv. to mō- (var. s. of movēre to move ) + -tor -tor
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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mo·tor   (mō'tər)   
n.  
  1. Something, such as a machine or an engine, that produces or imparts motion.

  2. A device that converts any form of energy into mechanical energy, especially an internal-combustion engine or an arrangement of coils and magnets that converts electric current into mechanical power.

  3. A motor vehicle, especially an automobile: "It was a night of lovers. All along the highway ... motors were parked and dim figures were clasped in revery" (Sinclair Lewis).

adj.  
  1. Causing or producing motion: motor power.

  2. Driven by or having a motor.

  3. Of or for motors or motor vehicles: motor oil.

  4. Of, relating to, or designating nerves that carry impulses from the nerve centers to the muscles.

  5. Involving or relating to movements of the muscles: motor coordination; a motor reflex.

v.   mo·tored, mo·tor·ing, mo·tors

v.   intr.
To drive or travel in a motor vehicle.
v.   tr.
To carry by motor vehicle.

[Middle English motour, prime mover, from Latin mōtor, from mōtus, past participle of movēre, to move; see meuə- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: mo·tor
Pronunciation: 'mOt-&r
Function: adjective
1 : causing or imparting motion
2 : of, relating to, orbeing a motoneuron or a nerve containing motoneurons <motor fibers> <motor cells>
3 : of, relating to, concerned with, or involving muscular movement<motor areas of the brain>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

motor mo·tor (mō'tər)
adj.

  1. Causing or producing motion.

  2. Of or being nerves that carry impulses from the nerve centers to the muscles.

  3. Involving or relating to movements of the muscles.

  4. Of or relating to an organism's overt reaction to a stimulus.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Science Dictionary
motor   (mō'tər)  Pronunciation Key 
Noun   A machine that uses energy, such as electric or chemical energy (as from burning a fuel), to produce mechanical motion. See also engine.

Adjective   Involving the muscles or the nerves that are connected to them. Compare sensory.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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