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Word: drift (lookup usage) (lookup stats)


Meaning:

Noun:

  • 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.
  • A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.
  • A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.
  • 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.
  • Anything driven at random.
  • A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.
  • A place, also known as a ford, along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit oxen or sheep to be driven to the opposite side.
  • A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
  • 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.
  • Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
  • Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.
  • geology The material left behind by the retreat of continental glaciers, which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.
  • In South Africa, a ford in a river.
  • mining A horizontal passage in a mine.
  • nautical The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
  • nautical The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.
  • nautical 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.
  • That which is driven, forced, or urged along
  • The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
  • 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.
  • The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
  • The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
  • The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary | Src Info »

Verb:

  • To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
  • To move haphazardly without any destination.
  • To move slowly, pushed by currents of water, air, etc.

Source: Wiktionary | Src Info »