1. [n]  (mining) a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine; "they dug a drift parallel with the vein"
2. [n]  general meaning or tenor; "caught the drift of the conversation"
3. [n]  a general tendency to change (as of opinion); "not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book"; "a broad movement of the electorate to the right"
4. [n]  something heaped up by the wind or current
5. [n]  a force that moves something along
6. [n]  the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)
7. [n]  a process of linguistic change over a period of time
8. [v]  be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current; "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting like snow"
9. [v]  be subject to fluctuation; "The stock market drifted upward"
10. [v]  drive slowly and far afield for grazing; "drift the cattle herds westwards"
11. [v]  cause to be carried by a current; "drift the boats downstream"
12. [v]  move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment; "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"
13. [v]  be in motion due to some air or water current; "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"
14. [v]  move in an unhurried fashion; "The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests"
15. [v]  wander from a direct course or at random; "The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her"; "don't drift from the set course"
16. [v]  live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely; "My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school"
17. [v]  vary or move from a fixed point or course; "stock prices are drifting higher"

Drift
Mary Kinzie`s poems, experimental in form, take for their subject matter such diverse themes as Cinderella, a D rer engraving, and folklore.

more details ...

1. \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.
   Note: 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.
   

2. \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.]
   

3. \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.
   

4. \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.
   

5. \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. (A["e]ronautics) 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.
   

1. 1. Floating or non-mineral burden of a stream
   2. Voluntary or accidental dislodgment of aquatic invertebrates from the stream bottom into the water column where they move or float with the current.
2. Collectively, stream invertebrates (almost wholly the aquatic larval stages of insects) that voluntarily or accidentally leave the substrate to move or float with the current, as well as terrestrial invertebrates that drop into the stream. Also, any detrital material transported in the water current.