drift
    n 1: a force that moves something along [syn: drift,
         impetus, impulsion]
    2: the gradual departure from an intended course due to external
       influences (as a ship or plane)
    3: a process of linguistic change over a period of time
    4: a large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by
       water currents
    5: a general tendency to change (as of opinion); "not openly
       liberal but that is the trend of the book"; "a broad movement
       of the electorate to the right" [syn: drift, trend,
       movement]
    6: the pervading meaning or tenor; "caught the general drift of
       the conversation" [syn: drift, purport]
    7: a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine;
       "they dug a drift parallel with the vein" [syn: drift,
       heading, gallery]
    v 1: be in motion due to some air or water current; "The leaves
         were blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake";
         "The sailboat was adrift on the open sea"; "the shipwrecked
         boat drifted away from the shore" [syn: float, drift,
         be adrift, blow]
    2: wander from a direct course or at random; "The child strayed
       from the path and her parents lost sight of her"; "don't
       drift from the set course" [syn: stray, err, drift]
    3: move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in
       search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the woods";
       "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam
       across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the
       next"; "They rolled from town to town" [syn: roll,
       wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble,
       rove, range, drift, vagabond]
    4: vary or move from a fixed point or course; "stock prices are
       drifting higher"
    5: live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely; "My son drifted
       around for years in California before going to law school"
       [syn: freewheel, drift]
    6: move in an unhurried fashion; "The unknown young man drifted
       among the invited guests"
    7: cause to be carried by a current; "drift the boats
       downstream"
    8: drive slowly and far afield for grazing; "drift the cattle
       herds westwards"
    9: be subject to fluctuation; "The stock market drifted upward"
    10: be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a
        current; "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting
        like snow"

adit \ad"it\ ([a^]d"[i^]t), n. [L. aditus, fr. adire, aditum, to
   go to; ad + ire to go.]
   1. An entrance or passage. Specifically: The nearly
      horizontal opening by which a mine is entered, or by which
      water and ores are carried away; -- called also drift
      and tunnel.
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   2. Admission; approach; access. [R.]
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            Yourself and yours shall have
            Free adit.                            --Tennyson.
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Drift \Drift\, n. [From drive; akin to LG. & D. drift a
   driving, Icel. drift snowdrift, Dan. drift, impulse, drove,
   herd, pasture, common, G. trift pasturage, drove. See
   Drive.]
   1. A driving; a violent movement.
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            The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his
            wings.                                --King
                                                  Alisaunder
                                                  (1332).
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   2. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or
      drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
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            A bad man, being under the drift of any passion,
            will follow the impulse of it till something
            interpose.                            --South.
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   3. Course or direction along which anything is driven;
      setting. "Our drift was south." --Hakluyt.
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   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.
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            He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment
            on his country in general.            -- Addison.
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            Now thou knowest my drift.            --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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   5. That which is driven, forced, or urged along; as:
      (a) Anything driven at random. "Some log . . . a useless
          drift." --Dryden.
      (b) 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.
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                Drifts of rising dust involve the sky. -- Pope.
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                We got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift
                [of ice].                         --Kane.
      (c) A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds. [Obs.]
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                Cattle coming over the bridge (with their great
                drift doing much damage to the high ways). --
                                                  Fuller.
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   6. (Arch.) The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or
      vault upon the abutments. [R.] --Knight.
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   7. (Geol.) 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.
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   8. In South Africa, a ford in a river.
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   9. (Mech.) 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.
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   10. (Mil.)
       (a) A tool used in driving down compactly the composition
           contained in a rocket, or like firework.
       (b) A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong
           projectiles.
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   11. (Mining) A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft;
       a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or
       tunnel.
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   12. (Naut.)
       (a) The distance through which a current flows in a given
           time.
       (b) The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes
           with the meridian, in drifting.
       (c) The distance to which a vessel is carried off from
           her desired course by the wind, currents, or other
           causes.
       (d) 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.
       (e) The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
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   13. 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.
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   14. (Phys. Geog.) One of the slower movements of oceanic
       circulation; a general tendency of the water, subject to
       occasional or frequent diversion or reversal by the wind;
       as, the easterly drift of the North Pacific.
       [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   15. (A["e]ronautics) The horizontal component of the pressure
       of the air on the sustaining surfaces of a flying
       machine. The lift is the corresponding vertical
       component, which sustains the machine in the air.
       [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   Note: Drift is used also either adjectively or as the first
         part of a compound. See Drift, a.
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   Drift of the forest (O. Eng. Law), an examination or view
      of the cattle in a forest, in order to see whose they are,
      whether they are commonable, and to determine whether or
      not the forest is surcharged. --Burrill. [1913 Webster]

   continental drift (Geology), the very slow (ca. 1-5 cm per
      year) movement of the continents and parts of continents
      relative to each other and to the points of upwelling of
      magma in the viscous layers beneath the continents; --
      causing, for example, the opening of the South Atlantic
      Ocean by the movement of Africa and South America away
      from each other. See also plate tectonics.
      [PJC]

Drift \Drift\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drifted; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Drifting.]
   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.
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            We drifted o'er the harbor bar.       -- Coleridge.
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   2. To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven
      into heaps; as, snow or sand drifts.
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   3. (mining) 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. [U.S.]
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Drift \Drift\, v. t.
   1. To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body. --J. H.
      Newman.
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   2. To drive into heaps; as, a current of wind drifts snow or
      sand.
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   3. (Mach.) To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
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Drift \Drift\, a.
   That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or
   currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud. --Kane.
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   Drift anchor. See Sea anchor, and also Drag sail, under
      Drag, n.

   Drift epoch (Geol.), the glacial epoch.

   Drift net, a kind of fishing net.

   Drift sail. Same as Drag sail. See under Drag, n.
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