A drive-through (also spelled drive-thru) is a type of service where you can buy things without leaving your car. You simply drive up to a window, place your order, pay, and receive what you bought, all while staying in the driver's seat.

Fast food restaurants helped popularize drive-through service in the 1940s, making it possible to grab a burger and fries without parking and going inside. Today you'll find drive-throughs at banks, pharmacies, coffee shops, and even some libraries. At a bank's drive-through, you might send a deposit through a pneumatic tube: a cylinder that whooshes through a pipe using air pressure.

Drive-throughs became popular because they're convenient and quick. A busy parent can pick up dinner, a worker can grab morning coffee, or someone can drop off a prescription, all without unbuckling kids from car seats or searching for parking. During bad weather, a drive-through means staying warm and dry while running errands.

The phrase can also describe doing something very quickly and casually. If you drive through a book, you're reading it rapidly without paying careful attention to details.