Drift, n. 1. (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.
2. (Aëronautics) 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.
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.
The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of
his wings.
King Alisaunder (1332).
2. The act or motion of drifting; the force
which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or
impulse.
A bad man, being under the drift of any
passion, will follow the impulse of it till something
interpose.
South.
3. Course or direction along which anything
is driven; setting. "Our drift was south."
Hakluyt.
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.
He has made the drift of the whole poem a
compliment on his country in general.
Addison.
Now thou knowest my drift.
Sir
W. Scott.
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.
Drifts of rising dust involve the
sky.
Pope.
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.]
Cattle coming over the bridge (with their great
drift doing much damage to the high ways).
Fuller.
6. (Arch.) The horizontal thrust or
pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments. [R.]
Knight.
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.
8. In South Africa, a ford in a
river.
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.
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.
11. (Mining) A passage driven or cut
between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an
adit or tunnel.
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.
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.
&fist; Drift is used also either adjectively or as the
first part of a compound. See Drift, a.
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.
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.
We drifted o'er the harbor bar.
Coleridge.
2. To accumulate in heaps by the force of
wind; to be driven into heaps; as, snow or sand
drifts.
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.]
Drift (?), v. t. 1.
To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body. J.
H. Newman.
2. To drive into heaps; as, a current of wind
drifts snow or sand.
3. (Mach.) To enlarge or shape, as a
hole, with a drift.
Drift, a. That causes drifting or
that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift
currents; drift ice; drift mud. Kane.
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.
Drift, n. 1. (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.
2. (Aëronautics) 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.
