SG Heritage Dictionary

Drift [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. That which is driven by wind or water, as drift seems to be primarily a participle. Hence,

2. A heap of any matter driven together; as a drift of snow, called also a snow-drift; a drift of sand.

3. A driving; a force impelling or urging forward; impulse; overbearing power or influence; as the drift of a passion.

4. Course of any thing; tendency; aim; main force; as the drift of reasoning or argument; the drift of a discourse.

5. Any thing driven by force, as a drift of dust; a log or a raft driven by a stream of water, without guidance.

6. A shower; a number of things driven at once; as a drift of bullets.

7. In mining, a passage cut between shaft and shaft; a passage within the earth.

8. In navigation, the angle which the line of a ships motion makes with the nearest meridian, when she drives with her side to the wind and waves, and is not governed by the helm. Also, the distance which the ship drives on that line.

9. The drift of a current, is its angle and velocity.

Drift [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

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

2. To float or be driven along by a current of water; as, the ship drifted astern; a raft drifted ashore.

Drift [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

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

Drift [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud.

Drift [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. A driving; a violent movement.

2. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.

3. Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.

4. 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.

5. That which is driven, forced, or urged along

6. Anything driven at random.

7. 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.

8. A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.

9. The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.

10. 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.

11. In South Africa, a ford in a river.

12. 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.

13. A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.

14. A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.

15. A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.

16. The distance through which a current flows in a given time.

17. The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.

18. The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.

19. 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.

20. The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.

21. 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.

Drift [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. 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.

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

3. 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.

Drift [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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

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

3. To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.

Drift-sail [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

In navigation, a sail used under water, veered out right ahead by sheets.

Drift-way [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A common way for driving cattle in.

Drift-wind [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A driving wind; a wind that drives things into heaps.

Driftage [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. Deviation from a ship's course due to leeway.

2. Anything that drifts.

Driftbolt [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

A bolt for driving out other bolts.

Drifted [Participle passive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Driven along; driven into heaps.

Drifted [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Drift

Drifting [Participle present tense] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Driving by force; driving into heaps.

Drifting [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Drift

Driftless [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Having no drift or direction; without aim; purposeless.

Driftpiece [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

An upright or curved piece of timber connecting the plank sheer with the gunwale; also, a scroll terminating a rail.

Driftpin [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

A smooth drift. See Drift, n., 9.

Driftway [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. A common way, road, or path, for driving cattle.

2. Same as Drift, 11.

Driftweed [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Seaweed drifted to the shore by the wind.

Driftwind [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

A driving wind; a wind that drives snow, sand, etc., into heaps.

Driftwood [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. Wood drifted or floated by water.

2. Fig.: Whatever is drifting or floating as on water.

Drifty [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Full of drifts; tending to form drifts, as snow, and the like.