Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
you drive me home.
English answer:
you compel or urge me to address the important point
Added to glossary by
Charles Davis
Jul 7, 2012 12:19
11 yrs ago
English term
you drive me home.
English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
"Have you that, then, of which you speak, Babbalanja? Are you content, there where you stand?"
"My lord, you drive me home. I am not content. The mystery of mysteries is still a mystery. How this author came to be so wise, perplexes me. How he led the life he did, confounds me.
"My lord, you drive me home. I am not content. The mystery of mysteries is still a mystery. How this author came to be so wise, perplexes me. How he led the life he did, confounds me.
Change log
Jul 7, 2012 12:19: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"
Jul 12, 2012 09:38: Charles Davis Created KOG entry
Responses
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Selected
you compel or urge me to address the important point
Clearly this doesn't mean what it would mean today: take him to his home by car! "Drive" means urge or compel, and "home" means at or close to the vital point, with the sense of reaching a goal or the culmination of something. Here are relevant definitions from Webster:
"Drive
To compel or urge forward by other means than absolute physical force, or by means that compel the will"
http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/drive
"Home
Close; closely; to the point; as, this consideration comes home to our interest, that is, it nearly affects it. Drive the nail home, that is, drive it close."
http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,home
This survives in the expression "hit home", meaning to hit the mark. To drive a nail home could still mean to hit is fully into position, all the way in.
So the speaker means that the question forces or prompts him to address the vital point, which is that he is not content. It is a bit like saying that he hit the nail on the head.
"Drive
To compel or urge forward by other means than absolute physical force, or by means that compel the will"
http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/drive
"Home
Close; closely; to the point; as, this consideration comes home to our interest, that is, it nearly affects it. Drive the nail home, that is, drive it close."
http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,home
This survives in the expression "hit home", meaning to hit the mark. To drive a nail home could still mean to hit is fully into position, all the way in.
So the speaker means that the question forces or prompts him to address the vital point, which is that he is not content. It is a bit like saying that he hit the nail on the head.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
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