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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

drive someone to the wall en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (dated) To push someone to extremities.
    • Then we had some further conversation and I drove him to the wall, as I always did in conversation; that is, I rather attacked him; I did attack him. 1882, Henry H. Alexander, Edward Denison Easton, Report of the Proceedings in the Case of the United States Vs. Charles J. Guiteau, page 497:
    • The new pupil did not appreciate the rough handling, and, well, he did not exactly lose his temper, but at any rate he attacked suddenly and furiously, and so surprised his teacher that he drove him to the wall. 1930, Hilda Orchardson Gray, The Life of Sir William Quiller Orchardson:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
driven someone to the wall Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
driving someone to the wall Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
drove someone to the wall Tense=Past lexicographic
drives someone to the wall Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Relateds

drive someone up the wall