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r rounded or not, that has been transported by natural agencies from its native bed. See Drift. Bowlder clay, the unstratified clay deposit of the Glacial or Drift epoch, often containing large numbers of bowlders. -- Bowlder wall, a wall constructed of large stones or bowlders.

be pressed through irregular holes in metal that cannot be dressed by revolving tools; a drift.

Mist; fog; vapors. "The drifting brume." Longfellow.

Careful; wary; cautious; not rash, reckless, or spendthrift; saving; frugal. His rising reputation made him more chary of his fame. Jeffrey.

To salute loudly. [R.] The people with a shout Rifted the air, clamoring their god with praise. Milton .

To drift in a current with an anchor out.

To drift sidewise or to leeward, as a vessel. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Lost; adrift; hence, wanting; careless; neglectful; unfaithful. They easily prevailed, so as to seize upon the vacant, unoccupied, and derelict minds of his [Chatham's] friends; and instantly they turned the vessel wholly out of the course of his policy. Burke. A government which is either unable or unwilling to redres…

ous indulgence, as late hours, riotous living, etc.; dissoluteness. To reclaim the spendthrift from his dissipation and extravagance. P. Henry.

ragged by a vessel through the water in order to keep her head to the wind or to prevent drifting; -- called also drift sail, drag sheet, drag anchor, sea anchor, floating anchor, etc. -- Drag twist (Mining), a spiral hook at the end of a rod for cleaning drilled holes.

In type founding and forging, an impression or matrix, formed by a punch drift.

A drift; a tool for setting bolts home.

Tendency; drift. [R.]

A road for driving cattle; a driftway. [Eng.]

A hill of compact, unstratified, glacial drift or till, usually elongate or oval, with the larger axis parallel to the former local glacial motion.

A low hill of drifting sand usually formed on the coats, but often carried far inland by the prevailing winds. [Written also dun.] Three great rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt, had deposited their slime for ages among the dunes or sand banks heaved up by the ocean around their mouths. Motley.…

Thrifty and frugal housekeeping; management without loss or waste; frugality in expenditure; prudence and disposition to save; as, a housekeeper accustomed to economy but not to parsimony. Political economy. See under Political.

surrounding, or the state of being surrounded; circumvention. By this encompassment and drift of question. Shak.

Contrived with care; ingenious. [Obs.] The mark of all enginous drifts. B. Jonson.

In Ireland, one of the continuous mounds or ridges of gravelly and sandy drift which extend for many miles over the surface of the country. Similar ridges in Scotland are called kames or kams. [Written also eskar and esker.]