Motor \Mo"tor\, n. [L., fr. movere, motum, to move.]
   1. One who, or that which, imparts motion; a source of
      mechanical power.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Mach.) A prime mover; a machine by means of which a
      source of power, as steam, moving water, electricity,
      etc., is made available for doing mechanical work.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A motor car; an automobile. [archiac Colloq.]
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.] Motory
      Motor

	

	Motor \Mo"tor\, Motory \Mo"to*ry\, Motorial \Mo*to"ri*al\, a.
   [L. motorius that has motion. See Motor, n.]
   Causing or setting up motion; pertaining to organs of motion;
   -- applied especially in physiology to those nerves or nerve
   fibers which only convey impressions from a nerve center to
   muscles, thereby causing motion.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	motor
     adj 1: conveying information to the muscles from the CNS; "motor
            nerves" [syn: centrifugal, motor(a)]
     2: causing or able to cause motion; "a motive force"; "motive
        power"; "motor energy" [syn: motive(a)]
     n 1: machine that converts other forms of energy into mechanical
          energy and so imparts motion
     2: a nonspecific agent that imparts motion; "happiness is the
        aim of all men and the motor of all action"
     v : travel or be transported in a vehicle; "We drove to the
         university every morning"; "They motored to London for
         the theater" [syn: drive]

	

	97 Moby Thesaurus words for "motor":
   active, aeromotor, alembic, anvil, appliance, arc-jet engine, auto,
   autocar, automobile, axial-flow turbojet, bicycle, bike, boat,
   buggy, bus, caldron, cam engine, car, catch a train, charioteer,
   chauffeur, convenience, crate, crucible, cycle, drive, driving,
   engine, enginery, entrain, facility, fixture, gas jet, go by rail,
   heap, impelling, impulse duct engine, in motion, inverted engine,
   jalopy, joyride, lathe, machine, machinery, make a train,
   mechanical aid, mechanical device, mechanism, melting pot, mobile,
   mortar, motile, motivational, motive, motive power, motor vehicle,
   motorcar, motorcycle, motorized vehicle, moving, pancake engine,
   pedal, pilot, piston engine, power plant, power source, propellant,
   propeller-jet engine, propelling, propjet, radial engine, ramjet,
   reciprocating engine, retort, ride, rocket motor, rotary engine,
   stirring, supercharged engine, take a joyride, taxi, test tube,
   tool, transducer, transformer, transitional, traveling, tub,
   turbine, turbojet, turboprop, utility, vertical engine, voiture,
   wheel, wheels, wreck