drift
pronunciation
How to pronounce drift in British English:
UK [drɪft]
How to pronounce drift in American English:
US [drɪft]
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- Noun:
- a force that moves something along
- the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)
- a process of linguistic change over a period of time
- something that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents
- a general tendency to change (as of opinion)
- general meaning or tenor
- a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine
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- Verb:
- be in motion due to some air or water current
- wander from a direct course or at random
- move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
- vary or move from a fixed point or course
- live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely
- move in an unhurried fashion
- cause to be carried by a current
- drive slowly and far afield for grazing
- be subject to fluctuation
- be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current
Word Origin
- drift
- drift: [13] Drift comes ultimately from the same Germanic base as produced drive, and etymologically means ‘driving or being driven’, but as far as we can tell it did not exist in Old English, and the word as we now have it is a borrowing from other Germanic languages. Its first recorded use is in the sense ‘snowdrift’, which points to Old Norse drift as the source, but later more general applications were probably reinforced by Dutch drift.=> drive
- drift (n.)
- c. 1300, literally "a being driven" (of snow, etc.); not recorded in Old English; either a suffixed form of drive (v.) (compare thrift/thrive) or borrowed from Old Norse drift "snow drift," or Middle Dutch drift "pasturage, drove, flock," both from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (cognates: Danish and Swedish drift, German Trift), from PIE root *dhreibh- "to drive, push" (see drive (v.)). Sense of "what one is getting at" is from 1520s. Meaning "controlled slide of a sports car" attested by 1955.
- drift (v.)
- late 16c., from drift (n.). Figurative sense of "be passive and listless" is from 1822. Related: Drifted; drifting.
Example
- 1. Mexico cannot afford three more years of political drift .
- 2. If you are slumped your mind will drift .
- 3. Why this elaborate analogy with plate tectonics and continental drift ?
- 4. By 1946 , however , the battle over continental drift was in full swing .
- 5. The flickering insect halo began to drift slowly away , keeping a constant six feet above the earth .