motor

From Middle English motour (“controller, prime mover; God”), from Latin mōtor (“mover; that which moves something”), from mōtō (“I set in motion”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊtəɹ/, [ˈmoʊɾɚ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mo‧tor
• Rhymes: -əʊtə(ɹ)

motor (plural motors)

1. A machine or device that converts other energy forms into mechanical energy, or imparts motion.
2. (colloquial) A motor car, or automobile, even a goods vehicle.

   Nice motor!

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “His Own People”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 6:

     It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau; young men of his own type, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.

   • 1918, Edith Wharton, chapter I, in The Marne, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 1:

     Every since the age of six Troy Belknap of New York had embarked for Europe every June on the fastest steamer of one of the most expensive lines. With his family he had descended at the dock from a large noiseless motor, had kissed his father good-bye, turned back to shake hands with the chauffeur (a particular friend), and trotted up the gang-plank behind his mother's maid, [...]

   • 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed‎:

     'However, you go and try your luck and see how you like it.' With that he flung himself into his motor and was off.

   • 1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XXII, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 214:

     The screeching of brakes, the monotonous blare of motor horns, the clip-clip of shoes on slippery pavements, the rustling of wet mackintoshes were all part of the great metropolis.

   • 1944 November and December, T. F. Cameron, “Motor and Cartage Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 338:

     Goods motors for which "A" licences are held are free to operate anywhere, to pick up the most remunerative traffic, and the points between which the best back loads are available.

3. (figuratively) A source of power for something; an inspiration; a driving force.
4. Any protein capable of converting chemical energy into mechanical work.
5. (Christianity, archaic, poetic) The controller or prime mover of the universe; God.
6. (prison slang) The fermenting mass of fruit that is the basis of pruno, or "prison wine".

   Synonym: kicker

• motour (obsolete)

• engine

• motoric

• → Persian: موتر (môtar)
• → Japanese: モーター (mōtā)
• → Burmese: မော်တော် (mautau)
• → Hausa: mōtā̀
• → Nupe: mátò
• → Yoruba: mọ́tò
• → Shanghainese: 馬達／马达 (mo⁶-da⁶)
  • → Chinese: 馬達／马达 (mǎ dá)
• → Tibetan: མོ་ཊ (mo ṭa)

motor (not comparable)

1. (biology) Relating to the ability to move.

   She has excellent motor skills.

2. Relating to motor cars.

   Motor insurance is expensive for youngsters.

3. (nautical) Propelled by an internal combustion engine (as opposed to a steam engine or turbine).
   • 1915 June, “Many Yachts to Go in Commission”, in The American Marine Engineer:

     A motor yacht for its size has about 30 per cent more accommodations than a steamer of the same size.

• motor unit
• psychomotor
• sensorimotor
• supramotor

motor (third-person singular simple present motors, present participle motoring, simple past and past participle motored)

1. (dated) To make a journey by motor vehicle; to drive.

   Synonym: moto

   On Saturday we motored down to Plymouth.

   • 1944 November and December, T. F. Cameron, “Motor and Cartage Working”, in Railway Magazine, pages 336–337:

     The practice used to be for such consignments to be loaded as tranships to the large centre, but this involved rather slow transits, and to a considerable extent these consignments are now motored to the large centre, and in the average case the transit is improved by a day.

2. (transitive, aviation) To rotate a jet engine or turboprop using the engine's starter, without introducing fuel into the engine.

   During startup, the engine should be motored for 20 to 30 seconds to allow the shafts to straighten out, as they may have become bowed under their own weight while the airplane was sitting on the ground.

3. (informal, figurative) To progress at a brisk pace.

   Sales were slow at first, but now things are really motoring.

   • 2023 November 15, Ian Prosser talks to Stefanie Foster, “A healthy person is a more productive person”, in RAIL, number 996, page 34:

     More recently, ORR has been developing its knowledge and skills in cyber and digital security. Prosser says this is really "motoring".

4. (slang) To leave.

   I gotta motor.

• Motor Neurons at Motor Units on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “motor”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “motor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• morto

Borrowed from English motor, compare motor car, from Latin mōtor.[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʊə̯.tər/

• Audio

  (file)

motor (plural motors, diminutive motortjie)

1. car, automobile

   Synonym: kar

2. engine, motor

• motorfiets
• vragmotor
• veteraanmotor

motor m (plural motores)

1. engine, motor (mechanical device)

Borrowed from Latin mōtōrem.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [muˈtor]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian) [moˈtor]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ

motor (feminine motora, masculine plural motors, feminine plural motores) or motor (feminine motriu, masculine plural motors, feminine plural motrius)

1. motor

motor m (plural motors)

1. motor

• locomotor
• motorista

• “motor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “motor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “motor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “motor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): /moˈtoɾ/, [mɔˈt̪oɾ̪]
• Hyphenation: mo‧tor

Borrowed from Spanish motor.

motór

1. motor; engine

motór

1. Clipping of motorsiklo.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:motor.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmotor]

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -otor

motor m inan

1. engine, motor

• See motiv

• motor in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• motor in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

• IPA^(key): /moːtɔr/, [ˈmoːtˢɒ]

motor c (singular definite motoren, plural indefinite motorer)

1. motor, engine

Borrowed from English motor, from Latin motor. In the sense “motorbike” motor was originally short for motorrijwiel or motorfiets.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoːtɔr/, /ˈmoːtər/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oːtɔr, -oːtər
• Hyphenation: mo‧tor

motor m (plural motoren or motors, diminutive motortje n)

1. engine (mechanical device)
2. motorbike

   Synonyms: motorfiets, motorrijwiel

• benzinemotor
• buitenboordmotor
• crossmotor
• dieselmotor
• elektromotor
• hulpmotor
• middenmotor
• motoragent
• motorbende
• motorbrigade
• motorclub
• motorcoureur
• motorengel
• motorfiets
• motormuis
• motorrijder
• motorrijwiel
• motorvoertuig
• politiemotor
• straalmotor
• stuntmotor

• motoriek
• motoriseren

• → Aukan: muntolu
• → Caribbean Hindustani: motar
• → Caribbean Javanese: montor
• → Indonesian: motor
• → Trió: monturu

From English motor or German Motor, from Latin mōtor, mōtō (“I set in motion”).[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈmotor]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mo‧tor
• Rhymes: -or

motor (plural motorok)

1. engine, motor (a machine or device that converts other energy forms into mechanical energy, or imparts motion; the part of a car or other vehicle which provides the force for motion)
2. (figurative) powerhouse (any source of power, energy or strength)
3. motorbike, motorcycle (an open-seated motor vehicle with handlebars instead of a steering wheel, and having two (or sometimes three) wheels)

   Synonyms: motorbicikli, motorkerékpár

• motor in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Borrowed from Dutch motor, from English motor, from Latin motor. In the sense “motorbike” or "motorcycle", motor was originally short for motorrijwiel or motorfiets.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmotɔr]
• Hyphenation: mo‧tor

motor (first-person possessive motorku, second-person possessive motormu, third-person possessive motornya)

1. engine

   Synonyms: enjin, mesin

2. (informal) motorcycle

   Synonyms: honda, sepeda motor

3. (figuratively) important person in organization.

• “motor” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

• IPA^(key): /moˈtor/

motor (plural motores)

1. motor

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmoː.tor/, [ˈmoːt̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.tor/, [ˈmɔːt̪or]

mōtor m (genitive mōtōris); third declension

1. mover; that which moves something

Third-declension noun.

mōtor

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of mōtō

• “motor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• motor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

motor m (definite singular motoren, indefinite plural motorer, definite plural motorene)

1. engine, motor

• IPA^(key): /mutur/
• IPA^(key): /mutːur/ (dialectal)

motor m (definite singular motoren, indefinite plural motorar, definite plural motorane)

1. engine, motor

Borrowed from Latin mōtor.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.tɔr/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔtɔr
• Syllabification: mo‧tor

motor m inan (diminutive motorek)

1. (colloquial) motorcycle

   Synonyms: (archaic) autocykl, motocykl

2. engine

   Synonym: silnik

• motor in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• motor in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French moteur, from Latin mōtōrem.

• Rhymes: -oʁ, -oɾ
• Hyphenation: mo‧tor

motor (feminine motora, masculine plural motores, feminine plural motoras)

1. motive

motor m (plural motores)

1. motor
2. engine

Borrowed from French moteur.

• IPA^(key): /moˈtor/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -or
• Hyphenation: mo‧tor

motor n (plural motoare)

1. engine
2. (colloquial) motorcycle

• motor in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

From Latin motor.

mòtōr m (Cyrillic spelling мо̀то̄р)

1. engine, motor
2. (colloquial) motorcycle

• mòtōrnī

• IPA^(key): /móːtɔr/

mọ̑tor m inan

1. engine

From Latin motor.

• IPA^(key): /moˈtoɾ/ [moˈt̪oɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: mo‧tor

motor (feminine motora, masculine plural motores, feminine plural motoras)

1. moving

motor m (plural motores)

1. motor (mechanical device)
2. (mechanics) engine
3. (figuratively) driving force, driver, mover
4. (figuratively) powerhouse
5. (computing) backend, back end

• → Ye'kwana: motode

• “motor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

• audio

  (file)

motor c

1. engine, motor

• motor in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• motor in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• morot

• IPA^(key): /moˈtoɾ/, [moˈtoɾ]
• Hyphenation: mo‧tor

Borrowed from Spanish motor.

motór (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓᜆᜓᜇ᜔)

1. motor; engine

   Synonym: makina

motór (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜓᜆᜓᜇ᜔)

1. Clipping of motorsiklo.

• “motor”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
• “motor”, in Pinoy Dictionary, 2010–2024

• motör (obsolete)

From French moteur m, from Latin mōtor m (“mover”).

• IPA^(key): /moˈtoɾ/

• Audio

  (file)

motor (definite accusative motoru, plural motorlar)

1. engine (mechanical device)
2. (colloquial) a motorcycle

• motorlu, motörlü (“motorized”)

Compare Italian motore

motor m (plural motori) or motor m (plural moturi)

1. motor, engine

Possibly a shortening of Dutch motorboot (“motorboat”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmo.t̪or/

motor

1. motorboat

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎, Pacific linguistics