Definition
A motor powered by the airplane's electrical system that converts electrical energy into mechanical motion, used in some retractable landing gear systems to drive the gear up and down through a series of gears, shafts, or screw jacks.
Plain English
A motor that runs on electricity from the aircraft's battery and generator/alternator, rather than on hydraulic fluid pressure or engine power. In landing gear, it provides the muscle that physically moves the wheels into and out of their wells.
Context Anchor
Seen in landing gear system descriptions when the gear is moved by electrical power rather than only by the pilot’s hand or by direct engine-driven equipment.
Derivation
"Electrically-driven" simply means "powered by electricity." The phrase is used to distinguish this type of motor from hydraulically-driven or mechanically-driven systems that perform the same job using fluid pressure or direct mechanical linkage from the engine.
Why Pilots Care
Provides independent operation of landing gear without relying on engine-driven hydraulics, adding system redundancy and simplifying maintenance on many light aircraft.
Analogy
It is similar to the small electric motor that moves a car window up and down. In the airplane, the motor is moving an aircraft system instead of a window.
Intuition Check
Do not confuse this with the airplane’s main engine. An electrically-driven motor is a smaller electric device used to move a system or part of a system.
Example Sentence 1
When the pilot moved the gear handle to the UP position, the electrically-driven motor began turning the gearbox that retracted the wheels into the wings.
Example Sentence 2
During the preflight the instructor pointed out the circuit breaker that protects the electrically-driven motor for the gear system.