Dictionary.net

be in motion due to some air or water current; "The leaves were blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake"; "The sailboat was adrift on the open sea"; "the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore"

the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)

a process of linguistic change over a period of time

be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current; "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting like snow"

be subject to fluctuation; "The stock market drifted upward"

cause to be carried by a current; "drift the boats downstream"

a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine; "they dug a drift parallel with the vein"

something that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents

drive slowly and far afield for grazing; "drift the cattle herds westwards"

move in an unhurried fashion; "The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests"

be in motion due to some air or water current; "The leaves were blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake"; "The sailboat was adrift on the open sea"; "the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore"

something heaped up by the wind or current

the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)

a process of linguistic change over a period of time

be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current; "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting like snow"

be subject to fluctuation; "The stock market drifted upward"

cause to be carried by a current; "drift the boats downstream"

move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the next".

A driving; a violent movement.

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

Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.

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.

That which is driven, forced, or urged along

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.

A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.

The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.

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.

In South Africa, a ford in a river.

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.

A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.

A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.

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

The distance through which a current flows in a given time.

The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.

The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.

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.

The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.

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.

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.

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

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.

To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.

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

To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.

That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud.

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.

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.

A driving; a violent movement.

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

Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.

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.

That which is driven, forced, or urged along

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.

A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.

The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.

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.

In South Africa, a ford in a river.

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.

A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.

A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.

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

The distance through which a current flows in a given time.

The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.

The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.

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.

The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.

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.

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.

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

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.

To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.

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

To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.

That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud.

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.

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.

The direction in which anything is driven; a force which drives anything ahead; act or state of being driven; tendency or aim of an act, remark, etc., over bearing influence; a collection of floating matter heaped up by the sea or wind; as, a drift of snow; the direction of a current.

To drive along or heap up; as, the winds drift dry leaves into piles.

To be carried along by a current, or by circumstances; gather together in heaps.

A beap of matter driven together, as snow: the direction in which a thing is driven: the object aimed at: the meaning of words used: in South Africa, a ford; as, Rorke's Drift.

To drive into heaps, as snow.

Heap of matter driven together, as snow or sand; direction; meaning.

To be driven into heaps or along.

To drive together or along.

To carry or be carried along, as on a current; accumulate by force of wind, as snow.

Something driven onward or piled up by a current.

A course; tendency.

A driving; an urgent force.

n. That which is driven, forced, or urged along; a mass of matter driven together by the wind; heap; —a storm or shower, as of rain or snow; —that which drives; impelling force; impulse;—a drove or flock, as of cattle, birds, &c.; —course or direction tendency of an act, argument, conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; import of words; —a conical hand-tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal; —a passage made for a road under ground;—direction of a current; —the distance to which a vessel is drawn off her course by currents or other causes.

Force impellent, impulse; violence, course; anything driven at random; anything driven or born along in a body; a storm, a shower; a heap or stratum of any matter thrown together by the wind; tendency, or aim of action; scope of a discourse.