Meaning of drift | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Movement; that which moves or is moved. Anything driven at random. A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water
2. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
   countable, physical, uncountable
3. Anything driven at random.
   countable, physical, uncountable
4. Anything driven at random
5. A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.
   countable, physical, uncountable
6. drift off, to fall asleep gradually.
7. A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water
8. The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
   countable, physical, uncountable
9. wood floating on or cast up on the shore by the sea. We made a fire with driftwood. dryfhout خَشَب الشاطِئ плавей madeira naplavené dříví das Treibholz drivtømmer επιπλέοντα ξύλα madera flotante ajupuit چوب آب آورده ajopuu bois flotté גִזְרֵי עֵץ נִסחָפִים बह कर आई लकड़ी naplavine drveta uszadékfa kayu hanyut rekaviður legname galleggiante 流木 유목(流木) išmesti į krantą rąstgaliai/medžiai/nuolaužos krastā izsviesti koki kayu hanyut drijfhoutdrivved, rekved drzewo wyrzucone na brzeg lub pływające ...
10. The distance through which a current flows in a given time
11. A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.
    countable, physical, uncountable
12. To be carried along by currents of air or water: a balloon drifting eastward; as the wreckage drifted toward shore.
13. A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds
14. 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 retreat of continental glaciers, such as that which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.
    countable, physical, uncountable
15. To proceed or move unhurriedly or aimlessly: drifting among the party guests; a day laborer, drifting from town to town.
16. Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.
    countable, physical, uncountable
17. To live or behave without a clear purpose or goal: drifted through his college years unable to decide on a career.
18. A driving; a violent movement.
    countable, obsolete, physical, uncountable
19. To have no continuing focus; stray: My attention drifted during the boring presentation.
20. Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
    countable, physical, uncountable
21. To vary from or oscillate randomly about a fixed setting, position, or mode of operation.
22. That which is driven, forced, or urged along.
    countable, physical, uncountable
23. To be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of a current: snow drifting to five feet.
24. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
    countable, uncountable
25. To cause to be carried in a current: drifting the logs downstream.
26. A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.
    countable, uncountable
27. To pile up in banks or heaps: Wind drifted the loose straw against the barn.
28. 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.
    countable, uncountable
29. The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
    countable, uncountable
30. A tool.
    countable, uncountable
31. 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.
    countable, uncountable
32. A tool used to pack down the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.
    countable, uncountable
33. A tool used to insert or extract a removable pin made of metal or hardwood, for the purpose of aligning and/or securing two pieces of material together.
    countable, uncountable
34. A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to obloid projectiles.
    countable, uncountable
35. Minor deviation of audio or video playback from its correct speed.
    uncountable
36. The situation where a performer gradually and unintentionally moves from their proper location within the scene.
    uncountable
37. A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery.
    countable, uncountable
38. An adit or tunnel driven forward for purposes of exploration or exploitation; generally eventually to a dead end.
    countable, uncountable
39. A sloping winze or road to the surface, for purposes of haulage.
    countable, uncountable
40. In a coal mine, a heading driven for exploration or ventilation.
    countable, uncountable
41. Of a boring or a driven tunnel: deviation from the intended course.
    countable, uncountable
42. A heading driven through a seam of coal.
    countable, uncountable
43. Movement.
    countable, uncountable
44. The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
    countable, uncountable
45. The distance a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.
    countable, uncountable
46. 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.
    countable, uncountable
47. The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
    countable, uncountable
48. 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.
    countable, uncountable
49. A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
    countable, uncountable
50. Slow, cumulative change.
    countable, uncountable
51. In the New Forest National Park, UK, the bi-annual round-up of wild ponies in order to sell them.
    countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Some log perhaps upon the waters swam, a useless drift.”

“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.”

“cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drifts doing much damage to the high ways)”

“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.”

“The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings.”

“Our drift was south.”

“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.”

“A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose.”

“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.”

“Reference sync servo system — permits minimal time-base error, assuring minimum jitter and drift.”

“There is another form of drift when playing in a scene with other actors.”

“genetic drift”

CEFR level