*motive*

a. Producing electro-motion; producing, or tending to produce, electricity or an electric current; causing electrical action or effects. [ 1913 Webster ]

Electro-motive force (Physics), the force which produces, or tends to produce, electricity, or an electric current; sometimes used to express the degree of electrification as equivalent to potential, or more properly difference of potential. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Attended by, or having the character of, emotion. H. Brooke. -- E*mo"tive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. Susceptibility to emotion. G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A locomotive engine; a self-propelling wheel carriage, especially one which bears a steam boiler and one or more steam engines which communicate motion to the wheels and thus propel the carriage, -- used to convey goods or passengers, or to draw wagons, railroad cars, etc. See Illustration in Appendix. [ 1913 Webster ]

Consolidation locomotive, a locomotive having four pairs of connected drivers. --
Locomotive car, a locomotive and a car combined in one vehicle; a dummy engine. [ U.S. ] --
Locomotive engine. Same as Locomotive, above. --
Mogul locomotive. See Mogul. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. locomotif. See Locomotion. ] 1. Moving from place to place; changing place, or able to change place; as, a locomotive animal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Used in producing motion; as, the locomotive organs of an animal. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Cf. F. locomotivité. ] The power of changing place. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Magneto- + motive, a. ] (Elec.) Pertaining to, or designating, a force producing magnetic flux, analogous to electromotive force, and equal to the magnetic flux multiplied by the magnetic reluctance. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The force that produces magnetic flux. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. manus the hand + E. motive. ] Movable by hand. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. motif, LL. motivum, from motivus moving, fr. L. movere, motum, to move. See Move. ] 1. That which moves; a mover. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object; motivation{ 2 }. [ 1913 Webster ]

By motive, I mean the whole of that which moves, excites, or invites the mind to volition, whether that be one thing singly, or many things conjunctively. J. Edwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mus.) The theme or subject; a leading phrase or passage which is reproduced and varied through the course of a comor a movement; a short figure, or melodic germ, out of which a whole movement is develpoed. See also Leading motive, under Leading. [ Written also motivo. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Fine Arts) That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Incentive; incitement; inducement; reason; spur; stimulus; cause. -- Motive, Inducement, Reason. Motive is the word originally used in speaking of that which determines the choice. We call it an inducement when it is attractive in its nature. We call it a reason when it is more immediately addressed to the intellect in the form of argument. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power. “Motive faculty.” Bp. Wilkins. [ 1913 Webster ]

Motive power (Mach.), a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To prompt or incite by a motive or motives; to move. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of a motive; not incited by a motive. -- Mo"tive*less*ness, n. G. Eliot. [1913 Webster]

a. [ Pedi-, pedo- + -motive. ] Moved or worked by the action of the foot or feet on a pedal or treadle. [ 1913 Webster ]