indrift

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

in +‎ drift

Verb[edit]

indrift (third-person singular simple present indrifts, present participle indrifting, simple past and past participle indrifted)

  1. To drift in.
    • 1876, Edward Dutton Cook, A Book of the Play:
      It was as one of the old Cinque Ports which the departing sea and the ever indrifting sand have left high and dry, unapproachable by water, a port only in name.
    • 1894, Beatrice Whitby, Mary Fenwick's Daughter: A Novel, page 272:
      She took her spirit-lamp from her dressing-bag and lit the feeble flame, a poor light enough, but by it they stuffed up cracks and crannies through which the snow indrifted ; they must exclude, if possible, the snow which melted in the carriage, adding dampness to the biting cold.
    • 1995, Attilio Bisio, Sharon Boots, Encyclopedia of Energy Technology and the Environment, →ISBN:
      However, restoration by indrifting of replacement organisms is continuous, and any gaps in marine communities are likely quickly filled in.

Noun[edit]

indrift (plural indrifts)

  1. The act of indrifting.
    • 1876, Josiah Crampton, The three heavens, page 38:
      Thus often does the thunder-cloud, advancing slowly towards us, seem to be propelled (apparently against the wind), so as to induce us to thing ourselves safe from its approach; but this is a deception, the current blowing from us towards it being but an indrift towards the higher temperature of the cloud, and the attraction caused by its electrical nature creating a partial or comparative vacuum.
    • 1888, James Howard Bridge, Uncle Sam at Home, page 166:
      With the present indrift of radical legislation to manhood suffrage and paid politicians in England, such lessons as we can draw from the experience of America are especially valuable.
    • 1980, New Zealand Geological Survey, New Zealand Geological Survey paleontological bulletin:
      There is little sign of indrift from nearby habitats, the accumulation probably providing a good and little disturbed record of brachiopods that grew there.

Anagrams[edit]