DERIVE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Derive

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/dərˈaɪv/ Listen

verb

Derive v. t. (past & past part. derived; pres. part. deriving)

To turn the course of, as water; to divert and distribute into subordinate channels; to diffuse; to communicate; to transmit; followed by to, into, on, upon. (Obs.) "For fear it (water) choke up the pits... they (the workman) derive it by other drains." "Her due loves derived to that vile witch's share." "Derived to us by tradition from Adam to Noah."

To receive, as from a source or origin; to obtain by descent or by transmission; to draw; to deduce; followed by from.

To trace the origin, descent, or derivation of; to recognize transmission of; as, he derives this word from the Anglo-Saxon. "From these two causes... an ancient set of physicians derived all diseases."

(Chem.) To obtain one substance from another by actual or theoretical substitution; as, to derive an organic acid from its corresponding hydrocarbon.

Synonyms: To trace; deduce; infer.

Derive v. i. To flow; to have origin; to descend; to proceed; to be deduced. "Power from heaven Derives, and monarchs rule by gods appointed."

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Etymology of 'Derive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Derive" Quotes from Famous Books

... nor from his mother did he derive that perpetual unrest and that frantic fondness for revolt which blazed out in the poet when he was still a boy. His father, Mr. Timothy Shelley, was a very usual, thick-headed, unromantic English squire. His mother—a woman of much beauty, but of no exceptional traits—was the daughter of another ...

— Famous Affinities of History, Vol 1-4, Complete - The Romance of Devotion • Lyndon Orr

... themselves so much," went on Constance, following his glance, "as it is the pleasure, the excitement, the satisfaction—call it what you will—of taking them. A thief works for the benefit he may derive from objects stolen after he gets them. Here is a girl who apparently has no further use for an article after she gets it, who ...

— Constance Dunlap • Arthur B. Reeve

... and Norbert perfected to the last detail whatever had been left incomplete of his own destruction. He began lumberingly to rise, talking at the same time, urging upon Ariel the charms of the roadside; wild flowers were in blossom, he said, recounting the benefits she might derive through acceptance of his invitation; and having, thus busily, risen to his knees, became aware that some one was passing near him. This some one Mr. Flitcroft, absorbed in artful persuasions, may have been betrayed ...

— The Conquest of Canaan • Booth Tarkington

... butter. Was little used in ancient households, except for cosmetics. Cows were expensive, climate and sanitary conditions interfered with its use in the Southern kitchen. The Latin butyrum is said to derive ...

— Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome • Apicius

... having received Puru's youth, became exceedingly gratified. And with it he once more began to indulge in his favourite pursuits to the full extent of his desires and to the limit of his powers, according to seasons, so as to derive the greatest pleasure therefrom. And, O king, in nothing that he did, he acted against the precepts of his religion as behoved him well. He gratified the gods by his sacrifices; the pitris, by Sraddhas; the poor, ...

— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

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