Motive /(?)/

Mo·tive

Motive

That which moves; a mover. [Obs.]
That which incites to action; anything prompting or exciting to choise, or moving the will; cause; reason; inducement; object; motivation{2}.
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.
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. (Mus.)
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. (Fine Arts)

Causing motion; having power to move, or tending to move; as, a motive argument; motive power.

Motive power: a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover.

v. t.