Verb: drift drift
Noun: drift drift
- Be in motion due to some air or water current
"the boat drifted on the lake"; "the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore";
- float, be adrift, blow
- Wander from a direct course or at random
"don't drift from the set course";
- stray, err
- Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
"the labourers drift from one town to the next";
- roll, wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble, rove, range, vagabond
- Vary or move from a fixed point or course
"stock prices are drifting higher"
- Live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely
"My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school";
- Move in an unhurried fashion
"The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests"
- Cause to be carried by a current
"drift the boats downstream"
- Drive slowly and far afield for grazing
"drift the cattle herds westwards"
- Be subject to fluctuation
"The stock market drifted upward"
- Be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current
"snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting like snow"
- A force that moves something along
- impetus, impulsion
- 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
- A large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents
- A general tendency to change (as of opinion)
"not openly liberal but that is the drift of the book";
- trend, movement
- The pervading meaning or tenor
"caught the general drift of the conversation";
- (mining) a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine
"they dug a drift parallel with the vein";
- heading, gallery
Derived forms: drifted, drifts, drifting
Type of: accumulate, action, activity, amass, change, circulate, conglomerate, crop, cumulate, disposition, exist, float, force, gather, go, graze, inclination, linguistic process, live, locomote, mass, move, natural action, natural process, passageway, pasture, pile up, strain, subsist, survive, tendency, tenor, travel, vary
Encyclopedia: Drift, Kentucky