Drift

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.

continental drift
(Geology) the very slow (ca. 1-5 cm per year) movement of the continents and parts of continents relative to each other and to the points of upwelling of magma in the viscous layers beneath the continents; - causing, for example, the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean by the movement of Africa and South America away from each other. See also plate tectonics. - Burrill.

v. i.

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.

[imp. & p. p. Drifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Drifting.]

We drifted o'er the harbor bar.

- Coleridge.

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

(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.

v. t.

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

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

(Mach.) 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.

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.

Noun	1.	drift - a force that moves something along Synonyms: impetus, impulsion
	2.	drift - the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)
	3.	drift - a process of linguistic change over a period of time
	4.	drift - something that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents
	5.	drift - a general tendency to change (as of opinion); "not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book"; "a broad movement of the electorate to the right" Synonyms: trend, movement
	6.	drift - general meaning or tenor; "caught the drift of the conversation" Synonyms: purport
	7.	drift - a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine; "they dug a drift parallel with the vein" Synonyms: heading, gallery
Verb	1.	drift - 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" Synonyms: be adrift, float, blow
	2.	drift - wander from a direct course or at random; "The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her"; "don't drift from the set course" Synonyms: err, stray
	3.	drift - 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"; "They rolled from town to town" Synonyms: roam, rove, stray, vagabond, wander, swan, ramble, range, tramp, cast, roll
	4.	drift - vary or move from a fixed point or course; "stock prices are drifting higher"
	5.	drift - live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely; "My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school" Synonyms: freewheel
	6.	drift - move in an unhurried fashion; "The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests"
	7.	drift - cause to be carried by a current; "drift the boats downstream"
	8.	drift - drive slowly and far afield for grazing; "drift the cattle herds westwards"
	9.	drift - be subject to fluctuation; "The stock market drifted upward"
	10.	drift - be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current; "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting like snow"

Brownian movement, Zeitgeist, aberrancy, aberration, accumulation, advance, aeroplane, affective meaning, affluence, afflux, affluxion, aim, airlift, airplane, alluvion, alluvium, amble, angular motion, anthill, army, array, ascending, ascent, atmospherics, axial motion, azimuth, backflowing, backing, backward motion, balloon, bank, bank up, bat, bat around, batch, be a sideliner, be airborne, be still, bear off, bearing, bend, bent, bias, blaring, blasting, blind spot, branching off, bum, bunch, bundle, career, circuitousness, climbing, clump, cluster, clutch, coast, cock, colony, color, coloring, concourse, confluence, conflux, connotation, consequence, corner, count ties, course, crawling, creeping, crook, crosscurrent, cruise, current, curve, dance, dart, debris, declination, defluxion, delay, denotation, departure, deposit, descending, descent, detour, detritus, deviance, deviancy, deviation, deviousness, digression, diluvium, direction line, discursion, disposition, divagate, divagation, divarication, divergence, diversion, do nothing, dogleg, double, downflow, downpour, downward motion, drift off course, driftage, drifting, drive, drove, dune, ebbing, effect, embankment, err, errantry, essence, excurse, excursion, excursus, exorbitation, extension, fade-out, fading, fall down, ferry, fetch away, flicker, flight, flit, flitter, flock, flood, flow, flowing, fluency, flutter, flux, fly, foot, force, forward motion, gad, gad about, gallivant, gam, gang, ghost, gist, glacial movement, glide, go about, go astray, go the rounds, grammatical meaning, group, gush, hairpin, hang fire, haycock, haymow, hayrick, haystack, heading, heap, heap up, helmsmanship, herd, hibernate, hill, hit the road, hit the trail, hobo, hop, host, hover, hydroplane, idea, idle, impact, implication, import, inclination, inclining, indirection, inflow, intension, intent, interference, jaunt, jet, kennel, knock about, knock around, lay, leeway, lexical meaning, lie, lie dormant, line, line of direction, line of march, linger, literal meaning, litter, loess, lot, main current, mainstream, make leeway, mass, maunder, meaning, mill run, millrace, molehill, mooch, mope, moraine, mosey, motion, mound, mountain, mounting, movement, mow, muck, navigate, navigation, noise, nomadize, not budge, not stir, object, oblique motion, obliquity, ongoing, onrush, onward course, orientation, outflow, overtone, pack, parcel, partiality, passage, pay off, penchant, peregrinate, pererrate, pererration, pertinence, pile, pile up, piloting, pith, plow the deep, plunging, pod, point, practical consequence, predilection, pride, progress, progression, propensity, prowl, purport, purpose, pyramid, quarter, race, radial motion, ramble, rambling, random motion, range, range of meaning, real meaning, reception, reference, referent, reflowing, refluence, reflux, regression, relation, relevance, rest, retrogression, rick, ride, ride the sea, rising, rove, run, run about, rush, sag, sailplane, saunter, school, scope, scree, scud, seaplane, sediment, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, set, sheer, shift, shifting, shifting course, shifting path, shoal, shock, shoot, sideward motion, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, silt, sinking, sinter, sit back, sit it out, skew, skim, skulk, slant, slip, sloth, snake, snowdrift, soar, soaring, span of meaning, spate, spirit, stack, stack up, stagnate, static, steerage, steering, sternway, straggle, stray, straying, stream, stroll, structural meaning, subsiding, substance, sum, sum and substance, surge, sweep, swerve, swerving, swing, swinging, symbolic meaning, tack, take it easy, take the air, take wing, tenor, the general tendency, the main course, tide, time spirit, tone, totality of associations, track, traipse, traject, trajet, tramp, transferred meaning, trend, trip, troop, turn, turning, twist, twist and turn, unadorned meaning, undercurrent, undertone, undertow, upward motion, vagabond, vagabondize, value, variation, veer, vegetate, volplane, waft, wait and see, walk the tracks, walk the waters, wander, wandering, warp, wash, watch and wait, water flow, way, wayfare, wind, wing, yaw, yaw off, zigzag

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