drifts

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of drift.

   Sand drifts had buried the fence posts along the dunes.

   Subtle drifts in the data warned the engineers of a failing sensor.

   Note

   A plural for the countable, heaped meanings: drifts of snow or sand piled up by wind or water, or, in the older pastoral sense of a drove, drifts of sheep and birds. The spelling is shared with the present-tense verb, and one phrase can tip either way. In snow drifts against the door, drifts is a verb. In the snow drifts against the door were cleared, it is a noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of drift.

   A balloon drifts wherever the wind carries it.

   Her attention drifts whenever the lecture grows too technical.

   Note

   An -s form for he, she, it and singular nouns in the present: a balloon drifts, but balloons drift. Most of its uses need no object (attention drifts, a boat drifts off course). It can also take one, as when a current drifts a raft toward shore or the wind drifts snow into banks against a wall.

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