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drift - 12 dictionary results
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drift

  [drift]
Use drift in a Sentence
–noun
1. a driving movement or force; impulse; impetus; pressure.
2. Navigation. (of a ship) the component of the movement that is due to the force of wind and currents.
3. Oceanography. a broad, shallow ocean current that advances at the rate of 10 to 15 mi. (16 to 24 km) a day.
4. Nautical.
a. the flow or the speed in knots of an ocean current.
b. the distance between the end of a rope and the part in use.
c. the distance between two blocks in a tackle.
d. the difference in diameter between two parts, one of which fits within the other, as a mast and its mast hoops, or a treenail and its hole.
5. Aeronautics. the deviation of an aircraft from a set course due to cross winds.
6. the course along which something moves; tendency; aim: The drift of political events after the war was toward chaos.
7. a meaning; intent; purport: the drift of a statement.
8. something driven, as animals, rain, etc.
9. a heap of any matter driven together.
10. a snowdrift.
11. Geology. glacial drift.
12. the state or process of being driven.
13. overbearing power or influence.
14. Military. a tool used in charging an ordnance piece.
15. Electronics.
a. a gradual change in some operating characteristic of a circuit, tube, or other electronic device, either during a brief period as an effect of warming up or during a long period as an effect of continued use.
b. the movement of charge carriers in a semiconductor due to the influence of an applied voltage.
16. Linguistics. gradual change in the structure of a language.
17. Machinery.
a. Also called driftpin. a round, tapering piece of steel for enlarging holes in metal, or for bringing holes in line to receive rivets or bolts.
b. a flat, tapered piece of steel used to drive tools with tapered shanks, as drill bits, from their holders.
18. Civil Engineering. a secondary tunnel between two main tunnels or shafts.
19. Mining. an approximately horizontal passageway in underground mining.
20. Physics. the movement of charged particles under the influence of an electric field.
21. Aerospace. the gradual deviation of a rocket or guided missile from its intended trajectory.
22. Mechanics. displacement of the gimbals of a gyroscope due to friction on bearings, unbalance of the gyroscope's mass or other imperfections.
23. the thrust of an arched structure.
24. Dentistry. a shift of the teeth from their normal position in the dental arch.
25. Western U.S. a flock of animals or birds.
–verb (used without object)
26. to be carried along by currents of water or air, or by the force of circumstances.
27. to wander aimlessly: He drifts from town to town.
28. to be driven into heaps, as by the wind: drifting sand.
29. to deviate or vary from a set course or adjustment.
–verb (used with object)
30. to carry along: The current drifted the boat to sea.
31. to drive into heaps: The wind drifted the snow.
32. Machinery.
a. to enlarge (a punched or drilled hole) with a drift.
b. to align or straighten (holes, esp. rivet holes) with a drift.
—Verb phrase
33. drift off, to fall asleep gradually.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME drift, n. deriv. of OE drīfan to drive; c. D drift herd, flock, G Trift herd, pasturage, road to pasture

Related forms:
drift⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
driftless, adjective
drift⋅less⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
7. tenor. See tendency.

glacial drift

 
–noun Geology.
material, as gravel, sand, or clay, transported and deposited by a glacier or by glacial meltwater.
Also called drift.
Compare till 4 .
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To drift
drift   (drĭft)   
v.   drift·ed, drift·ing, drifts

v.   intr.
  1. To be carried along by currents of air or water: a balloon drifting eastward; as the wreckage drifted toward shore.
  2. To proceed or move unhurriedly and smoothly: drifting among the party guests.
  3. To move leisurely or sporadically from place to place, especially without purpose or regular employment: a day laborer, drifting from town to town.
    1. To wander from a set course or point of attention; stray.
    2. To vary from or oscillate randomly about a fixed setting, position, or mode of operation.
  5. To be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of a current: snow drifting to five feet.
v.   tr.
  1. To cause to be carried in a current: drifting the logs downstream.
  2. To pile up in banks or heaps: Wind drifted the loose straw against the barn.
  3. Western U.S. To drive (livestock) slowly or far afield, especially for grazing.
n.  
  1. The act or condition of drifting.
  2. Something moving along in a current of air or water.
  3. A bank or pile, as of sand or snow, heaped up by currents of air or water.
  4. Geology Rock debris transported and deposited by or from ice, especially by or from a glacier.
    1. A general trend or tendency, as of opinion. See Synonyms at tendency.
    2. General meaning or purport; tenor: caught the drift of the conversation.
    3. A gradual change in position.
    4. A gradual deviation from an original course, model, method, or intention.
    5. Variation or random oscillation about a fixed setting, position, or mode of behavior.
    6. A tool for ramming or driving something down.
    7. A tapered steel pin for enlarging and aligning holes.
    8. A horizontal or nearly horizontal passageway in a mine running through or parallel to a vein.
    9. A secondary mine passageway between two main shafts or tunnels.
    1. A gradual change in position.
    2. A gradual deviation from an original course, model, method, or intention.
    3. Variation or random oscillation about a fixed setting, position, or mode of behavior.
    4. A tool for ramming or driving something down.
    5. A tapered steel pin for enlarging and aligning holes.
    6. A horizontal or nearly horizontal passageway in a mine running through or parallel to a vein.
    7. A secondary mine passageway between two main shafts or tunnels.
  7. A gradual change in the output of a circuit or amplifier.
  8. The rate of flow of a water current.
    1. A tool for ramming or driving something down.
    2. A tapered steel pin for enlarging and aligning holes.
    3. A horizontal or nearly horizontal passageway in a mine running through or parallel to a vein.
    4. A secondary mine passageway between two main shafts or tunnels.
    1. A horizontal or nearly horizontal passageway in a mine running through or parallel to a vein.
    2. A secondary mine passageway between two main shafts or tunnels.
  11. A drove or herd, especially of swine. See Synonyms at flock1.

[From Middle English, drove, herd, act of driving; see dhreibh- in Indo-European roots.]
drift'y adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Drift

Drift\, n. [From drive; akin to LG. & D. drift a driving, Icel. drift snowdrift, Dan. drift, impulse, drove, herd, pasture, common, G. trift pasturage, drove. See Drive.]

1. A driving; a violent movement.

The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings. --King Alisaunder (1332).

2. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.

A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose. --South.

3. Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting. "Our drift was south." --Hakluyt.

4. The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.

He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general. -- Addison.

Now thou knowest my drift. --Sir W. Scott.

5. That which is driven, forced, or urged along; as: (a) Anything driven at random. "Some log . . . a useless drift." --Dryden. (b) A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., esp. by wind or water; as, a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, and the like.

Drifts of rising dust involve the sky. -- Pope.

We got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift [of ice]. --Kane. (c) A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds. [Obs.]

Cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drift doing much damage to the high ways). -- Fuller.

6. (Arch.) The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments. [R.] --Knight.

7. (Geol.) A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the agency of ice.

8. In South Africa, a ford in a river.

9. (Mech.) A slightly tapered tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal, by being forced or driven into or through it; a broach.

10. (Mil.) (a) A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework. (b) A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.

11. (Mining) A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.

12. (Naut.) (a) The distance through which a current flows in a given time. (b) The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting. (c) The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes. (d) The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece. (e) The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.

13. The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.

Note: Drift is used also either adjectively or as the first part of a compound. See Drift, a.

Drift of the forest (O. Eng. Law), an examination or view of the cattle in a forest, in order to see whose they are, whether they are commonable, and to determine whether or not the forest is surcharged. --Burrill.

Drift

Drift\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Drifting.]

1. To float or be driven along by, or as by, a current of water or air; as, the ship drifted astern; a raft drifted ashore; the balloon drifts slowly east.

We drifted o'er the harbor bar. -- Coleridge.

2. To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps; as, snow or sand drifts.

3. (mining) to make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect. [U.S.]

Drift

Drift\, v. t. 1. To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body. --J. H. Newman.

2. To drive into heaps; as, a current of wind drifts snow or sand.

3. (Mach.) To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.

Drift

Drift\, a. That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud. --Kane.

Drift anchor. See Sea anchor, and also Drag sail, under Drag, n.

Drift epoch (Geol.), the glacial epoch.

Drift net, a kind of fishing net.

Drift sail. Same as Drag sail. See under Drag, n.

Drift

Drift\, n. 1. (Phys. Geog.) One of the slower movements of oceanic circulation; a general tendency of the water, subject to occasional or frequent diversion or reversal by the wind; as, the easterly drift of the North Pacific.

2. (A["e]ronautics) The horizontal component of the pressure of the air on the sustaining surfaces of a flying machine. The lift is the corresponding vertical component, which sustains the machine in the air.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : drift
Spanish: montón,
German: das Treiben,
Japanese: 吹きだまり
More Translations »

drift 
c.1300, lit. "a being driven" (of snow, etc.); not recorded in O.E., borrowed from O.N. or M.Du. drift, from P.Gmc. *driftiz, related to *dribanan "to drive." The verb is first attested c.1600. Sense of "what one is getting at" is from 1526. Drifter is first recorded 1864, as a mining term; meaning "a man following an aimless way of life" is from 1908. Driftwood first recorded 1633.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: drift
Pronunciation: 'drift
Function: noun
1 : movement of a tooth in the dental arch
2 : GENETIC DRIFT —drift intransitive verb
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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drift (drĭft)
n.

  1. A gradual deviation from an original course, model, method, or intention.
  2. Movement of teeth from their normal position in the dental arch because of the loss of contiguous teeth.
  3. See genetic drift.
  4. A variation or random oscillation about a fixed setting, position, or mode of behavior.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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drift

see get the drift.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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