drift
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: architecture
automotive
ball-games
broadcasting
business
cricket
engineering
film
games
hobbies
lifestyle
media
mining
natural-sciences
nautical
physical-sciences
sports
television
transport
vehicles
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”).
Base: drive
Affixes: -t
Inflected forms:
form: drifts
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: drifts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: drifting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: drifted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: drifted
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
physical
uncountable
examples: Some log perhaps upon the waters swam, a useless drift.
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
physical
uncountable
examples: a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, of plants, etc.
Drifts of rising dust involve the sky.
We […] got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift [of ice].
Many of these ground-layer plants were placed in naturalistic drifts to make it appear as if they were sowing themselves.
"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.
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
physical
uncountable
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
physical
uncountable
examples: cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drifts doing much damage to the high ways)
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
physical
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
physical
uncountable
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
physical
uncountable
examples: The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings.
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
physical
uncountable
examples: Our drift was south.
gloss: Movement; that which moves or is moved.
pos: noun
tags: countable
physical
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose.
gloss: A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The Gods defenders of the innocent,
Will neuer proſper your intended driftes,
That thus oppreſſe poore friendles paſſengers.
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.
Now thou knowest my drift.
Besides, you lack the brains to catch my drift. / If I explained you wouldn't understand.
gloss: The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A tool.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A tool.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A tool.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to obloid projectiles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Minor deviation of audio or video playback from its correct speed.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Reference sync servo system — permits minimal time-base error, assuring minimum jitter and drift.
gloss: The situation where a performer gradually and unintentionally moves from their proper location within the scene.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: There is another form of drift when playing in a scene with other actors.
gloss: A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: An adit or tunnel driven forward for purposes of exploration or exploitation; generally eventually to a dead end.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A sloping winze or road to the surface, for purposes of haulage.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: In a coal mine, a heading driven for exploration or ventilation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Of a boring or a driven tunnel: deviation from the intended course.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A heading driven through a seam of coal.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Movement.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Movement.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Movement.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Movement.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Movement.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Slow, cumulative change.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: genetic drift
gloss: In the New Forest National Park, UK, the bi-annual round-up of wild ponies in order to sell them.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: To move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The boat drifted away from the shore.
The balloon was drifting in the breeze.
One day I was out in the barn and he drifted in. I was currying the horse and he set down on the wheelbarrow and begun to ask questions.
gloss: To move haphazardly without any destination.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He drifted from town to town, never settling down.
gloss: To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: This car tends to drift left at high speeds.
Midway through the half, Argentine Tevez did begin to drift inside in order to exert his influence but by this stage Mick McCarthy's side had gone 1-0 up and looked comfortable.
gloss: To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 1865-1866, John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua
I was drifted back first to the ante - Nicene history , and then to the Church of Alexandria
gloss: To drive into heaps.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: A current of wind drifts snow or sand
gloss: To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Snow or sand drifts.
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
tags: US
gloss: To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To oversteer a vehicle, causing loss of traction, while maintaining control from entry to exit of a corner. See Drifting (motorsport).
pos: verb
Derived words: afterdrift
AI drift
catch someone's drift
channel drift
concept drift
continental drift
Darwin drift
dedrift
downdrift
downward drift
driftage
driftal
drift anchor
drift-anchor
driftbolt
drift-bolt
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
instinctive drift
longshore drift
mid-drift
raindrift
sea-drift
semantic drift
shift and drift
snow drift
snowdrift
spindrift
spoon-drift
spoondrift
spraydrift
stardrift
underdrift
updrift
wage drift
indrift
adrift
bedrift
drift along
drift apart
drift away
drift off
overdrift
Translations: