Drift

(drift.) [From A. S. drifan,to drive.] A heap of any substance driven by wind or water; as, a snow or ice-drift, a drift of sand or leaves.-(Geol.) A superficial deposit of fragments of rock frequently brought from a considerable distance,along with mud, sand, and clay. (Mining.) A pa age cut underground, betwixt shaft and shaft, or turn and turn:- otherwise called drift-way. (Navig.) The angle which the line of a ship's course makes with the nearest meridian, when she drives broadside to the waves and has lost her steerage-way.-(pl.) (Naut.) Those portions of aship's sheer run which terminate in a scroll. (Mil.) The rammer of the charge of a.rocket and the like. (Shipbuilding.) The technical term given to any difference that may exist between the size of a bolt and that of its intended socket; also, between a mast's circumference and that of the hoop demanded to fit the same. (Mech.) A piece of hard steel, slightly tapering and grooved at the sides, for increasing the size of the hole in any piece of metal into which it may be driven.-A drift-bolt is a bolt made use of to drive out other bolts. [s. 302]