drift

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine

   they dug a drift parallel with the vein

2. 2
   noun

   the pervading meaning or tenor

   caught the general drift of the conversation

3. 3
   verb

   be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current

   snow drifting several feet high

4. 4
   verb

   be subject to fluctuation

   The stock market drifted upward

5. 5
   verb

   drive slowly and far afield for grazing

   drift the cattle herds westwards

6. 6
   verb

   cause to be carried by a current

   drift the boats downstream

7. 7
   verb

   move in an unhurried fashion

   The unknown youth drifted among the invited guests.

8. 8
   verb

   live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely

   My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school

Etymology

From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).