Meaning

verb command with authority

verb intend (something) to move towards a certain goal

verb guide the actors in (plays and films)

originBorrowed from Latin dīrēctus, perfect passive participle of dīrigō (“straighten, direct”), from dis- (“asunder, in pieces, apart, in two”) + regō (“make straight, rule”). Compare dress. Doublet of derecho. For the meaning development compare with Russian напра́вить (naprávitʹ, “to direct, to turn, to aim, to level, to point”), отпра́вить (otprávitʹ, “to send, to dispatch, to forward”) connected…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0