7 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Adit \Ad"it\, n. [L. aditus fr adire, ?aitum, to go to ad +
ire to go.]
1. An entrance or passage. Specifically: The nearly
horizontal opening by which a mine is entered, or by which
water and ores are carried away -- called also {drift}
and {tunnel}.
2. Admission; approach; access [R.]
Yourself and yours shall have Free adit. --Tennyson.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Drift \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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Drift \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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Drift \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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
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.
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.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Drift \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.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
drift
n 1: a force that moves something along [syn: {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: something heaped up by the wind or current
5: a general tendency as of opinion: "not openly liberal but
that is the tendency of the book" [syn: {trend}]
6: general meaning or tenor: "caught the drift of the
conversation" [syn: {purport}]
7: (mining) a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a
mine; "they dug a drift parallel with the vein" [syn: {heading},
{gallery}]
v 1: be in motion due to some air current; "The leaves were
blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake"
[syn: {float}, {be adrift}, {blow}]
2: wander from a direct course or at random [syn: {stray}, {err}]
3: wander about aimlessly; "The gypsies roamed the woods" [syn:
{wander}, {swan}, {stray}, {roam}, {cast}, {ramble}, {rove},
{range}, {vagabond}]
4: be driven or carried along [syn: {waft}]
5: live irresponsibly or freely [syn: {freewheel}]
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