Drives out cuts overwhelming soldiers (9)

I believe the answer is:

exorcises

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'drives out' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their -s form, I cannot see how they can define each other.

'cuts overwhelming soldiers' is the wordplay.
'cuts' becomes 'excises' (I've seen this before).
'overwhelming' indicates putting letters inside.
'soldiers' becomes 'OR' (Other Ranks).
'excises' going around 'or' is 'EXORCISES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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