ETYM From drive; akin to LG. and Dutch drift a driving, Icel. drift snowdrift, Dan. drift, impulse, drove, herd, pasture, common, German trift pasturage, drove. Related to Drive.
1. The gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane).
2. A force that moves something along; SYN. impetus, impulsion.
3. A general tendency as of opinion; SYN. trend.
4. A process of linguistic change over a period of time.
5. General meaning or tenor; SYN. purport.
6. Something heaped up by the wind or current.
7. (Mining) A horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine; SYN. heading, gallery.
A change of a reading or a set point value over long periods due to several factors including change in ambient temperature, time, and line voltage.

The movement of charge carriers in a semiconductor caused by an applied voltage. The term is also used to refer to any slow, unwanted change in a parameter; for example, the value of a resistor might change, or drift, slightly as the resistor warms or cools.

To be driven or carried along; SYN. waft.