Drifting

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Drift \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.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              We drifted o'er the harbor bar.       -- Coleridge.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven
        into heaps; as, snow or sand drifts.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.]
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  drifting
       adj 1: continually changing especially as from one abode or
              occupation to another; "a drifting double-dealer";
              "the floating population"; "vagrant hippies of the
              sixties" [syn: {aimless}, {floating}, {vagabond}, {vagrant}]
       2: afloat on the surface of a body of water; "after the storm
          the boats were adrift" [syn: {adrift(p)}, {drifting(a)}]
       n : aimless wandering from place to place

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  67 Moby Thesaurus words for "drifting":
     ascending, axial, back, back-flowing, backward, circumforaneous,
     descending, discursive, divagatory, down-trending, downward,
     errant, flitting, floating, flowing, fluent, flying, footloose,
     footloose and fancy-free, fugitive, gadding, going, gypsy-like,
     gypsyish, gyrational, gyratory, landloping, meandering,
     migrational, migratory, mounting, nomad, nomadic, passing,
     plunging, progressive, rambling, ranging, reflowing, refluent,
     regressive, retrogressive, rising, roaming, rotary, rotational,
     rotatory, roving, running, rushing, shifting, sideward, sinking,
     soaring, straggling, straying, streaming, strolling, traipsing,
     transient, transitory, transmigratory, up-trending, upward,
     vagabond, vagrant, wandering