motor

MOH-tur/ˈmoʊtəɹ/UKMOH-tuh/ˈməʊtə/

12 meanings of motor

1
machinenouncountable
A machine or device that converts another form of energy into mechanical motion, or that produces movement.
Engineers replaced the elevator's motor after it failed inspection.
The drill's small electric motor spins the bit fast enough to cut through brick.
UsageFor cars and planes, engine is the usual word; motor is usual for electric machines: an electric motor.
Similarengine
Note
A motor need not burn fuel or turn a wheel; it can use electricity, compressed air, or a spring to produce movement. Middle English motour named a different kind of mover, which survives as the poetic name for God.
2
with an engineadjective
Powered by an engine, used especially of cars, trucks, and other road vehicles and of the industries and sports built around them.
Thousands of jobs in the region depend on the motor industry.
The old steamers were gradually replaced by faster motor vessels.
Note
This adjective sorts machines by what drives them: a motor yacht runs on an engine and a steamer on steam, and The American Marine Engineer of 1915 credited a motor yacht with about 30 percent more accommodation than a steamer of the same size. On land it names road vehicles, as in motor vehicle, the term laws use for cars, buses, and trucks.
3
body movementadjective
Relating to movement or the body's ability to produce and control it.
The injury affected his motor function on the left side.
Fine motor skills let children hold a pencil correctly.
UsageMostly in fixed pairs before a noun: motor skills, fine motor skills, motor function, motor control.
Note
In this sense, motor relates to bodily movement and its control. It usually comes before a noun, as in motor skills, motor function, motor control, motor neurons and motor cortex. It is normally non-gradable, although comparisons such as "more motor than sensory" can occur.
4
nouncolloquialBritishcountable
A car or automobile, sometimes extended to other powered vehicles such as trucks.
She pulled up outside the cafe in a flashy new motor.
He sold his old motor and took the train to work instead.
Similarcar, automobile

Less common meanings

5
verbdatedintransitive
To make a journey by car; to drive somewhere.
The couple motored through France on their honeymoon.
On fine afternoons they would motor out to the hills.
UsageUsually with a direction word: motor down, motor out, motor west.
Similardrive
Note
A verb that now dates its speaker, though it once sang: Bobby Troup's "Route 66" (1946) uses it to invite listeners on a drive west. It could also be transitive. In 1944 T. F. Cameron wrote of railway consignments being motored to a larger hub, meaning carried there by road.
6
driving forcenounfigurativelycountable
Something that provides power or inspiration, making something happen or keeping it going.
Cheap credit became the motor of the country's economic boom.
Her ambition was the motor driving the whole project forward.
UsageUsually in the motor of something: the motor of the economy.
Similardriver, dynamo
7
move quicklyverbcolloquialfigurativelyintransitive
To move or make progress at a brisk pace.
Once she found her rhythm, she motored through the final chapters.
Once she finds her rhythm on the trail, she can motor along for miles without slowing down.
UsageOften really motoring, or motor along and motor through something: sales are really motoring.
Similarcruise, breeze, zip, speed
Oppositecrawl
Note
Driving becomes praise for momentum: when sales, a project or a program is really motoring, it is progressing quickly and well. Ian Prosser used it in 2023 to say that work on cyber security was really "motoring".
8
proteinnouncountable
In biology, a protein that powers movement or other mechanical work by using chemical energy.
Kinesin is a motor that walks along microtubules carrying cellular cargo.
Several molecular motors power the contraction of muscle fibers.
9
verbslangintransitive
To leave; to head off from a place.
Grab your coat, we need to motor before the traffic gets bad.
It's getting late, so we should probably motor before the last train leaves.
UsageMostly about the speaker's own leaving, in casual talk: I've got to motor, we should motor.
Similarleave, split, go (entry)
Oppositearrive, stay
Note
Unlike the dated driving verb, it implies no vehicle at all. Someone heading out on foot can motor just as well as someone reaching for car keys.
10
Godnounarchaic
God, regarded as the first mover and ruler of the universe.
Note
Here the word keeps one of its oldest English meanings: Middle English motour already named God as controller and prime mover of all things. It now belongs to archaic and poetic Christian language, such as hymns and devotional verse. In ordinary modern prose it would read as a deliberate archaism, or be taken as a metaphor rather than as a title.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Middle English motour referred to God as controller and prime mover. en.wiktionary.org
11
verb
To spin a jet or turboprop engine with its starter while keeping fuel out of it.
12
nounslang
The mass of fermenting fruit from which inmates make pruno, also called prison wine.

Practice

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Origin

Latin moveō ("to move") plus the agent suffix -tor made mōtor ("mover; that which moves something"), and that reached Middle English as motour ("controller, prime mover; God").