drift
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: drĭft
ipa: /dɹɪft/
rhymes: -ɪft
Forms: form: drifts
Etymology: From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).
Senses: examples: text: Some log perhaps upon the waters swam, a useless drift.
ref: 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
Anything driven at random.
examples: text: a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, of plants, etc.
text: Drifts of rising dust involve the sky.
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book VIII”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
text: We […] got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift [of ice].
ref: 1855, Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic explorations: The second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin:
text: Many of these ground-layer plants were placed in naturalistic drifts to make it appear as if they were sowing themselves.
ref: 2012, David L. Culp, The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage, Timber Press, page 168:
text: "During the winter, we get really bad snow conditions. We can go to eight inches of snow above the railhead, then the trains are stopped. It's usually more like four inches, but you get big drifts up towards Rannoch.
ref: 2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 39:
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
examples: text: cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drifts doing much damage to the high ways)
ref: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The History of the University of Cambridge, since the Conquest, [London]: [[…] Iohn Williams […]], →OCLC:
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.
examples: text: It is there seen that at a distance from the valleys of streams, the old glacial drift usually comes to the surface, and often rises into considerable eminences.
ref: 1867, E. Andrews, "Observations on the Glacial Drift beneath the bed of Lake Michigan," American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. 43, nos. 127-129, page 75
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
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 retreat of continental glaciers, such as that which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.
examples: text: The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings.
ref: 1332, author unknown, King Alisaunder:
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
A driving; a violent movement.
examples: text: Our drift was south.
ref: 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
examples: text: The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.[…]Drifts of yellow vapour, fiery, parching, stinging, filled the air.
ref: 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
glosses: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
That which is driven, forced, or urged along.
examples: text: A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose.
ref: 1678, Robert South, Prevention of Sin an unvaluable Mercy, sermon preached at Christ-Church, Oxon on November 10, 1678
glosses: The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
glosses: A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.
examples: text: The Gods defenders of the innocent,
Will neuer proſper your intended driftes,
That thus oppreſſe poore friendles paſſengers.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
text: c. early 1700s, Joseph Addison, A Discourse on Ancient and Modern Learning
He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general.
text: Now thou knowest my drift.
ref: 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
text: Besides, you lack the brains to catch my drift. / If I explained you wouldn't understand.
ref: 1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 216:
glosses: 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.
topics: architecture
glosses: The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
qualifier: handiwork
glosses: A tool.
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.
qualifier: handiwork
glosses: A tool.
A tool used to pack down the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.
qualifier: handiwork
glosses: A tool.
A tool used to insert or extract a removable pin made of metal or hardwood, for the purpose of aligning and/or securing two pieces of material together.
glosses: A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to obloid projectiles.
examples: text: Reference sync servo system — permits minimal time-base error, assuring minimum jitter and drift.
ref: 1975, Broadcast Management/engineering, volume 11:
glosses: Minor deviation of audio or video playback from its correct speed.
examples: text: There is another form of drift when playing in a scene with other actors.
ref: 1970, Michael Pate, The Film Actor: Acting for Motion Pictures and Television, page 64:
topics: broadcasting
film
media
television
glosses: The situation where a performer gradually and unintentionally moves from their proper location within the scene.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery.
topics: business
mining
glosses: An adit or tunnel driven forward for purposes of exploration or exploitation; generally eventually to a dead end.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A sloping winze or road to the surface, for purposes of haulage.
topics: business
mining
glosses: In a coal mine, a heading driven for exploration or ventilation.
topics: business
mining
glosses: Of a boring or a driven tunnel: deviation from the intended course.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A heading driven through a seam of coal.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Movement.
The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Movement.
The distance a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Movement.
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.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Movement.
The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Movement.
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.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
synonyms: swerve
glosses: A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
examples: text: genetic drift
glosses: Slow, cumulative change.
glosses: In New Forest National Park, UK, the bi-annual round-up of wild ponies in order to be sold.
Derived terms: afterdrift
catch someone's drift
channel drift
concept drift
continental drift
Darwin drift
dedrift
downdrift
downward drift
driftage
driftal
drift-anchor
drift anchor
drift-bolt
driftbolt
drift-current
drift excursion
driftfish
drift fishing
drift fruit
driftful
drift ice
driftland
driftless
driftlet
driftling
drift meter
drift mine
drift mining
drift net
drift-net
drift of the forest
drift park
drift phonk
driftpin
drift sail
drift-sail
drift seed
drift space
driftway
driftweed
driftwind
driftwood
drifty
exodrift
foredrift
genetic drift
get someone's drift
get the drift
glacial drift
indrift
instinctive drift
longshore drift
mid-drift
raindrift
sea-drift
semantic drift
snow drift
snowdrift
spindrift
spoon-drift
spoondrift
spraydrift
stardrift
underdrift
updrift
wage drift