|
drift n Cp OED ~ sb 2, 2b for senses 1 and 2; cp OED 9
'floating matter' for 4; OED drift-ice (1600-), DC (1829-) for comb in
sense 7.
1 Sea-room.
[1783] 1792
CARTWRIGHT iii, 34 I am decidedly for setting more sail immediately, and endeavouring to
get outside of Funk Island, where we shall have drift enough.
2 The slow passage of a boat over a fishing-ground, with men
using hand-lines and jiggers; vessel's course.
1955 DOYLE (ed) 28
"Hard, Hard Times": Go out in the morning go on a drift still; / It's over the side you
will hear the line nell; / For out flows the jigger and freeze with the cold, / And as to
for starting, all gone in the hole. T 194/6-65 I kept away—south by west, half west,
an' run chances, an' run her back a hour an' twenty minutes, an' I considered now she was
'bout on her same drift, wasn't she?
3 Spray, esp freezing
spray at sea.
[1907] 1979 Nfld Qtly Fall, p. 22 Can
scarcely see the length of the ship for drift. 1933 GREENE 64 In addition to the loss of
the Southern Cross, the Newfoundland lost 77 of her crew in the blinding,
freezing snow—the icy, choking, impenetrable veil of 'drift' in which none may live
for long. T 194/5-65 An' this drift was high as her spars, up th' upper part o' Belle
Isle.
4 Rubbish; odds and ends.
[1902] 1909 Tribune Christmas No 23 No person shall, within
the City limits, cast or throw drift, dung, rubbish, or other offensive matter in or upon
any grating.
5 A spree; TIME.
T
141/65-652 [At Christmas] whatever 'twould cost for that night's drift, that
night's entertainment, he'd have to [pay].
6 Phr drift
of fish: concentration of cod-fish; SCULL, SPOT.
1979 NEMEC
277 If the tide is 'running' strong a crew may 'hit' or run into a 'drift of fish' and
'jig' hundreds of pounds of large cod in a matter of minutes.
in the drift of: in a particular ocean current or flow.
1866 WILSON 275 From the twentieth to the last of February is the
whelping time; and the ice about that time is generally in the drift of White Bay, or the
Bay of Exploits. 1873 CARROLL 18 As long as white fish are in with the land, so sure will
seals of every description be there, as white fish are swarming along from the Labrador
coast, when in drift of the straits of Belle Isle, provided the winds hang at the time
they are swarming along the south from the E. or N.E.7 Comb drift-bank:
snow-bank.
[1778] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 294 I took a turn round the
island; and was near breaking my neck by a fall over a drift-bank.
drift-ice: floating masses or fragments of ice, driven by
wind and current; ICE; ROUGH ICE.
1610 Willoughby Papers
17a, 1/2 The worst time [for shipping] is when the fishermen come to fishinge, because
the drifts Ice from the northern Countries, at that time only troubleth them. [1768] 1826
CARTWRIGHT i, 33 After very deep snows are dissolved by a hasty thaw, this river swells
above banks of twenty feet high, as appears by the wounds made by drift ice in the trunks
of the standing trees. [1775] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 75 Observing the drift ice to draw
nearer in shore, and it being calm, I went out to the shalloway and towed her into this
harbour. 1837 Journ of Assembly 451 The immense fields of drift ice from the
northern regions so completely blocks and fills up Conception Bay that the communication
with the capital by water is impeded. 1895 Christmas Review 12 The tow of an
iceberg is better than none. (Vessels caught in drift ice are often made fast to an
iceberg, in order to prevent their driving south, and also in order to enable them to
wait for an opening in the ice). [1917] 1972 GORDON 95 There is always a risk that an
in-shore wind may send a consignment of drift-ice well up into the bay again. 1936 SMITH
71 I said that we had a good chance of getting there, and securing the berths, as our
vessel was a good sailor, and sheathed with greenheart, a good thing should we meet any
drift ice. 1977 Inuit Land Use 167 White fox travel south in the fall on the drift
ice, and they are sometimes plentiful on the seaward islands and interior plateau.
Go Back
|
