Word: drift Part of Speech: noun 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”). Pronunciation: /dɹɪft/ 1. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: Some log perhaps upon the waters swam, a useless drift. 2. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, of plants, etc. Example: Drifts of rising dust involve the sky. 3. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable 4. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drifts doing much damage to the high ways) 5. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: 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. 6. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable 7. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, obsolete, physical, uncountable Example: The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings. 8. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: Our drift was south. 9. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: 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. 10. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose. 11. A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side. Labels: countable, uncountable 12. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The Gods defenders of the innocent, Will neuer proſper your intended driftes, That thus oppreſſe poore friendles paſſengers. Example: 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. 13. The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. A tool. Labels: countable, uncountable 15. A tool. Labels: countable, uncountable 16. A tool. Labels: countable, uncountable 17. A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to obloid projectiles. Labels: countable, uncountable 18. Minor deviation of audio or video playback from its correct speed. Labels: uncountable Example: Reference sync servo system — permits minimal time-base error, assuring minimum jitter and drift. 19. The situation where a performer gradually and unintentionally moves from their proper location within the scene. Labels: uncountable Example: There is another form of drift when playing in a scene with other actors. 20. A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery. Labels: countable, uncountable 21. An adit or tunnel driven forward for purposes of exploration or exploitation; generally eventually to a dead end. Labels: countable, uncountable 22. A sloping winze or road to the surface, for purposes of haulage. Labels: countable, uncountable 23. In a coal mine, a heading driven for exploration or ventilation. Labels: countable, uncountable 24. Of a boring or a driven tunnel: deviation from the intended course. Labels: countable, uncountable 25. A heading driven through a seam of coal. Labels: countable, uncountable 26. Movement. Labels: countable, uncountable 27. Movement. Labels: countable, uncountable 28. Movement. Labels: countable, uncountable 29. Movement. Labels: countable, uncountable 30. Movement. Labels: countable, uncountable 31. A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler. Labels: countable, uncountable 32. Slow, cumulative change. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: genetic drift 33. In the New Forest National Park, UK, the bi-annual round-up of wild ponies in order to sell them. Labels: countable, uncountable