drift.
THE SHORT MEANINGTo move with a current.
MovementMeaning & usage
Movement; that which moves or is moved. Anything driven at random.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. 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.
a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, of plants, etc.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. The animals being moved in a drive, as of cattle, goats, horses, pigs or sheep.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. A group of birds moving together.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. 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.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. A collection of logs floating down a river.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. A driving; a violent movement.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
Movement; that which moves or is moved. 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.
A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.
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.
The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
A tool. 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. A tool used to pack down the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.
A tool. 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.
A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to obloid projectiles.
Minor deviation of audio or video playback from its correct speed.
The situation where a performer gradually and unintentionally moves from their proper location within the scene.
A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery.
An adit or tunnel driven forward for purposes of exploration or exploitation; generally eventually to a dead end.
A sloping winze or road to the surface, for purposes of haulage.
In a coal mine, a heading driven for exploration or ventilation.
Of a boring or a driven tunnel: deviation from the intended course.
A heading driven through a seam of coal.
Movement. The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
Movement. The distance a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.
Movement. 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.
Movement. The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
Movement. 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.
A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
Slow, cumulative change.
genetic drift
In the New Forest National Park, UK, the bi-annual round-up of wild ponies in order to sell them.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).
To move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.
The boat drifted away from the shore.
The balloon was drifting in the breeze.
To move haphazardly without any destination.
He drifted from town to town, never settling down.
To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
This car tends to drift left at high speeds.
To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
To drive into heaps.
A current of wind drifts snow or sand
To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps.
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 enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
To oversteer a vehicle, causing loss of traction, while maintaining control from entry to exit of a corner. See Drifting (motorsport).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
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Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.