|
drift
has definitions from the fields of mining,linguistics,food,transportation
|
|
| 1 |
[ verb ] be in motion due to some air or water current
Examples "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" Used in print (Dolores Hitchens, Footsteps in the Night....)A new idea drifted in from_nowhere . |
| 2 |
[ noun ] a force that moves something along
Used in print (Cornell H. Mayer, "Radio Emission of the Moon...)The ratio of the measured antenna temperature_change during a drift scan across the moon to the average brightness temperature of the moon over the antenna beam ( assuming that the brightness temperature of the sky is negligible ) was found , by graphical integration of the antenna directivity diagram , to be 0.85 . (Richard F. McLaughlin, et al., "A study of the...)Air drifts from one area to another are , therefore , conceivable . Also , interlobular air drifts may be all_but nonexistent in the cow ; probably occur in the horse much_as in the human_being ; and , in contrast are present to a relatively immense degree on a segmental basis in the dog where lobules are absent ( Van_Allen and Lindskog , ' 31 ) . |
| 3 |
[ verb ] wander from a direct course or at random
Examples "The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her" "don't drift from the set course" Used in print (Genevieve Holden, Deadlier Than the Male....)They kept drifting apart and merging again in his mind like some minute form of life on a microscope slide . (Clifford Irving, The Valley....)I saw you driftin away - but I tried . |
| 4 |
[ verb ] move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
Examples "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" Used in print (The Christian Science Monitor,...)`` Friends , Romans , Countrymen , Lend Me Your Ear-Muffs '' , `` Such a Phrase as Drifts Through Dream '' , and `` The New_Vocabularianism '' . (Eugene E. Golay, Organizing the Local Church for Effect...)A program of Lay_Visitation_Evangelism can end in dismal defeat with half the new members drifting away unless practical plans and strenuous efforts are made to keep them in the active fellowship . (Thomas Anderson, Here Comes Pete Now....)Drifting here_and_there . |
| 5 |
[ verb ] be driven or carried along, as by the air
Synonyms Examples "Sounds wafted into the room" Used in print (The Providence Journal...)Other steps would be developed after information drifts down to the local level from the federal_government . (The Christian Science Monitor...)The small shaft of blue had drifted down and come to rest at his feet . |
| 6 |
[ noun ] the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)
Used in print (Brainard Cheney, "Christianity and the Tragic Vision-Ut...)The riotous onrush of industrialism after the War_for_Southern_Independence and the general secular drift to the Religion_of_Humanity , however , prepared the way for a reception of the French_Revolution 's socialistic offspring of one sort of another . Related terms |
| 7 | |
| 8 |
[ verb ] vary or move from a fixed point or course
Examples "stock prices are drifting higher" Related terms |
| 9 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 |
[ verb ] be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current
Examples "snow drifting several feet high" "sand drifting like snow" Related terms |
| 12 |
[ verb ] live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely
Synonyms Examples "My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school" Related terms |
| 13 | |
| 14 |
[ verb ] (food) drive slowly and far afield for grazing
Examples "drift the cattle herds westwards" Related terms |
| 15 |
[ noun ] (linguistics) a process of linguistic change over a period of time
Related terms |
| 16 | |
| 17 |
[ noun ] a general tendency to change (as of opinion)
Examples "not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book" "a broad movement of the electorate to the right" Related terms |
| 18 |
[ noun ] (mining) a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine
Examples "they dug a drift parallel with the vein" Related terms |
| * |
|