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1. Be in motion due to some air or water current
   "the boat drifted on the lake"; "the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore";
   - float, be adrift, blow
    
2. Wander from a direct course or at random
   "don't drift from the set course";
   - stray, err
    
3. Move about aimlessly or without any fixed destination
   "the labourers drift from one town to the next";
   - roll, wander, swan [informal], stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble, rove, range, vagabond [archaic]
    
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";
   - freewheel
    
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"

1. A force that moves something along
   - 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 drift of the book";
   - trend, movement
    
6. The pervading meaning or tenor
   "caught the general drift of the conversation";
   - purport
    
7. (mining) a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine
   "they dug a drift parallel with the vein";
   - heading, gallery

Derived forms: drifted, drifting, drifts

Type of: accumulate, action, activity, amass, change, circulate, conglomerate, crop, cumulate, disposition, exist, float, force, gather, go, graze, inclination, linguistic process, live, locomote, mass, move, natural action, natural process, passageway, pasture, pile up, strain, subsist, survive, tendency, tenor, travel, vary

Encyclopedia: Drift, Kentucky