:a driving movement or force; impulse; impetus; pressure.
:Navigation. the component of the movement that is due to the force of wind and currents.
:Oceanography. a broad, shallow ocean current that advances at the rate of 10 to 15 miles a day.
:Nautical. the flow or the speed in knots of an ocean current.the distance between the end of a rope and the part in use.the distance between two blocks in a tackle.the difference in diameter between two parts, one of which fits within the other, as a mast and its mast hoops, or a treenail and its hole.
:Aeronautics. the deviation of an aircraft from a set course due to cross winds.
:the course along which something moves; tendency; aim: The drift of political events after the war was toward chaos.
:meaning; intent; purport: the drift of a statement.
Holmes admitted he had no data to back up the idea, and the geology community remained largely unconvinced of continental drift.
If she was right, the valley might be a rift where molten material came up from below, forming new crust and pushing the ocean floor apart — evidence that could support continental drift.
The move highlights the increasing dominance of conservative punditry at a network that positioned itself at its founding as a “fair and balanced” alternative to what it saw as a liberal drift in other media.
Because wind can build drifts of deep snow over holes, effectively hiding them from view, using a pole as a probe to detect divots can be a lifesaver in deep and uneven snowpack.
Residents continue to complain of drift from aerial spraying and heavy sediment pollution into Nehalem Bay, home to clams, Dungeness crab and runs of chinook and coho salmon.
Strong currents and winds, however, mean any debris could be drifting up to 31 miles a day eastward, away from the impact zone.
It may also have left them somewhat untethered, drifting in between their own lives and the eternal mysteries.
In this valley so far away from Syria, questions loom like mist drifting off the Caucasus.
Tokyo Bay is “a black expanse where gulls wheeled above drifting shoals of white Styrofoam.”
The life of the club owner was something Leonard left behind, the noise and violence drifting into lore.
Something came up between me and Lyn—and I drifted, and kept drifting.
:Military. a tool used in charging an ordnance piece.
:Electronics. a gradual change in some operating characteristic of a circuit, tube, or other electronic device, either during a brief period as an effect of warming up or during a long period as an effect of continued use.the movement of charge carriers in a semiconductor due to the influence of an applied voltage.
:Linguistics. gradual change in the structure of a language.
:Machinery. Also called driftpin. a round, tapering piece of steel for enlarging holes in metal, or for bringing holes in line to receive rivets or bolts.a flat, tapered piece of steel used to drive tools with tapered shanks, as drill bits, from their holders.
:Civil Engineering. a secondary tunnel between two main tunnels or shafts.
:Mining. an approximately horizontal passageway in underground mining.
:Physics. the movement of charged particles under the influence of an electric field.
:Aerospace. the gradual deviation of a rocket or guided missile from its intended trajectory.
:Mechanics. displacement of the gimbals of a gyroscope due to friction on bearings, unbalance of the gyroscope's mass or other imperfections.
:the thrust of an arched structure.
:Dentistry. a shift of the teeth from their normal position in the dental arch.
:Western U.S. a flock of animals or birds.
v.无主动词 verb
1
:to be carried along by currents of water or air, or by the force of circumstances.
:to wander aimlessly: He drifts from town to town.
:to be driven into heaps, as by the wind: drifting sand.
:to deviate or vary from a set course or adjustment.
v.有主动词 verb
1
:to carry along: The current drifted the boat to sea.
:to drive into heaps: The wind drifted the snow.
:Machinery. to enlarge with a drift.to align or straighten with a drift.