What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Drift vs Creep - What's the difference?

drift | creep |

As a verb drift

is drifting.

As a proper noun creep is

(derogatory) the committee]] to re-elect the president, which raised money for [[w:richard nixon|richard nixon's campaign for 1972 reelection.

drift

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (label) Movement; that which moves or is moved.
  • # (label) A driving; a violent movement.
  • #* 1332 , (King Alisaunder) (1332)
  • The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings.
  • # Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
  • #* (Richard Hakluyt) (c.1552-1616)
  • Our drift was south.
  • # That which is driven, forced, or urged along.
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
  • , chapter=5, title= The Lonely Pyramid , passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.
  • # Anything driven at random.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Some loga useless drift .
  • # A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.
  • #* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Drifts of rising dust involve the sky.
  • #* Kane
  • We got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift [of ice].
  • # The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
  • # A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.
  • #* (Thomas Fuller) (1606-1661)
  • cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drift doing much damage to the high ways)
  • # A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the retreat of continental glaciers, such as that which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.
  • #* 1867 , E. Andrews, "Observations on the Glacial Drift beneath the bed of Lake Michigan," American Journal of Science and Arts? , vol. 43, nos. 127-129, page 75:
  • It is there seen that at a distance from the valleys of streams, the old glacial drift usually comes to the surface, and often rises into considerable eminences.
  • # Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.
  • The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
  • * (Robert South) (1634–1716)
  • A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose.
  • A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.
  • The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.
  • * 1977 , (w), (The Canterbury Tales) , Penguin Classics, p. 316:
  • 'Besides, you lack the brains to catch my drift . / If I explained you wouldn't understand.'
  • * (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general.
  • * Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • Now thou knowest my drift .
  • (architecture) The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
  • (Knight)
  • (label) A tool.
  • # A slightly tapered tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal, by being forced or driven into or through it; a broach.
  • # A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.
  • A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.
  • (label) A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.
  • (label) Movement.
  • # The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
  • # The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.
  • # The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece.
  • # The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
  • # The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.
  • (label) A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
  • Derived terms

    * driftage * driftal * drift-anchor * drift-bolt * drift-current * drift ice * driftland * driftless * drift-mining * drift-net * drift-sail * driftway * driftweed * driftwood * drifty

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.
  • *, chapter=11
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=One day I was out in the barn and he drifted in. I was currying the horse and he set down on the wheelbarrow and begun to ask questions.}}
  • (label) To move haphazardly without any destination.
  • (label) To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=January 15, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC
  • , title= Man City 4-3 Wolves , passage=Midway through the half, Argentine Tevez did begin to drift inside in order to exert his influence but by this stage Mick McCarthy's side had gone 1-0 up and looked comfortable.}}
  • (label) To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
  • (label) To drive into heaps.
  • (label) To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps.
  • To make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect.
  • To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
  • To oversteer a vehicle, causing loss of traction, while maintaining control from entry to exit of a corner. See .
  • Derived terms

    * bedrift * drift along * drift apart * drift off

    creep

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) crepen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
  • Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.
  • * 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
  • One evening, while the Rabbit was lying there alone, watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in the grass, he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him.
  • Of plants, to grow across a surface rather than upwards.
  • To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
  • He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.
  • To make small gradual changes, usually in a particular direction.
  • Prices have been creeping up all year.
  • To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or oneself.
  • Old age creeps upon us.
  • * John Locke
  • the sophistry which creeps into most of the books of argument
  • To slip, or to become slightly displaced.
  • The collodion on a negative, or a coat of varnish, may creep in drying.
    The quicksilver on a mirror may creep .
  • To move or behave with servility or exaggerated humility; to fawn.
  • a creeping sycophant
  • * Shakespeare
  • to come as humbly as they used to creep
  • To have a sensation as of insects creeping on the skin of the body; to crawl.
  • The sight made my flesh creep .
  • To drag in deep water with creepers, as for recovering a submarine cable.
  • Synonyms
    * (move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground) crawl * (grow across a surface rather than upwards) * (move slowly and quietly in a particular direction) * (make small gradual changes)
    Derived terms
    * creep up on * creepy / creepy-crawly * give someone the creeps * creep someone out

    Etymology 2

    From the above verb.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails)
  • A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.
  • A slight displacement of an object: the slight movement of something
  • The gradual expansion or proliferation of something beyond its original goals or boundaries, considered negatively.
  • Christmas creep'''. Feature '''creep'''. Instruction '''creep'''. Mission ' creep
  • (publishing) In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.
  • (materials science) An increase in strain with time; the gradual flow or deformation of a material under stress.
  • (geology) The imperceptible downslope movement of surface rock.
  • (informal, pejorative) An annoying irritating person
  • (informal, pejorative) A frightening and/or disconcerting person, especially one who gives the speaker chills or who induces psychosomatic facial itching.
  • Stop following me, you creep !
  • (agriculture) A barrier with small openings used to keep large animals out while allowing smaller animals to pass through.
  • Derived terms
    * bracket creep * Christmas creep * feature creep * focus creep * function creep ((function creep)) * instruction creep ((instruction creep)) * mission creep ((mission creep)) * requirement creep ((requirement creep)) * scope creep * season creep