Drift vs Dash - What's the difference?

drift | dash |

As verbs the difference between drift and dash

is that drift is drifting while dash is to run quickly or for a short distance.

As a noun dash is

(typography) any of the following symbols: (''horizontal bar ).

As an interjection dash is

(euphemistic) damn!.

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

dash

English

Noun

(es)

(typography) Any of the following symbols: (''horizontal bar ).

sometimes dash'' is also used colloquially to refer to a ''hyphen'' or ''minus sign .

A short run.

A small quantity of a liquid substance; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.

Add a dash of vinegar

Vigor.

Aren't we full of dash this morning?

A dashboard.

* 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 31:

The dash clock said 2:38 when.

One of the two symbols of Morse code.

(Nigeria) A bribe or gratuity.

* 1992 , George B. N. Ayittey, Africa betrayed (page 44)

The traditional practice of offering gifts or "dash " to chiefs has often been misinterpreted by scholars to provide a cultural explanation for the pervasive incidence of bribery and corruption in modern Africa.

* 2006 , Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, The Abolition of the Slave Trade in Southeastern Nigeria, 1885-1950 (page 99)

Writing in 1924 on a similar situation in Ugep, the political officer, Mr. S. T. Harvey noted: "In the old days there was no specified dowry but merely dashes given to the father-in-law

* 2008 , Lizzie Williams, Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide (page 84)

The only other times you'll be asked for a dash is from beggars.

(obsolete, euphemistic) A stand-in for a censored word, like "Devil" or "damn". (Compare deuce.)

* 1824 , "Kiddywinkle History, No. II", Blackwood's Magazine (15, May 1824) p. 540

I'll be dashed if I gan another step for less 'an oaf.

* 1853 , (William Makepeace Thackery), (The Newcomes)'', Chapter VI, serialized in ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine , (VIII, no. 43, Dec 1853) p. 118

Sir Thomas looks as if to ask what the dash is that to you! but wanting still to go to India again, and knowing how strong the Newcomes are in Leadenhall Street, he thinks it necessary to be civil to the young cub, and swallows his pride once more into his waistband.

*:Comment : Some editions leave this passage out. Of those that include it, some change the 'you!' to 'you?'.

* 1884 , (Lord Robert Gower), My Reminiscences'', reprinted in "The Evening Lamp", ''The Christian Union , (29) 22, (May 29, 1884) p. 524

Who the dash' is this person whom none of us know? and what the ' dash does he do here?

* 1939 , , (Uncle Fred in the Springtime) Chapter 8

I'll be dashed if I squash in with any domestic staff.

Hyponyms

* See also

Hypernyms

* punctuation mark

Derived terms

* dashing * dash off * em dash, en dash

Verb

(es)

To run quickly or for a short distance.

He dashed across the field.

(informal) To leave or depart.

I have to dash now. See you soon.

To destroy by striking (against).

He dashed the bottle against the bar and turned about to fight.

* 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21

"`Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes.'

* 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 4

Kala was the youngest mate of a male called Tublat, meaning broken nose, and the child she had seen dashed to death was her first; for she was but nine or ten years old.

To throw violently.

The man was dashed from the vehicle during the accident.

* Francis Bacon

If you dash a stone against a stone in the bottom of the water, it maketh a sound.

To sprinkle; to splatter.

* Thomson

On each hand the gushing waters play, / And down the rough cascade all dashing fall.

(of hopes or dreams) To ruin; to destroy.

Her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=September 13 , author=Sam Lyon , title=Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 Arsenal , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Arsenal's hopes of starting their Champions League campaign with an away win were dashed when substitute Ivan Perisic's superb late volley rescued a point for Borussia Dortmund.}}

To dishearten; to sadden.

Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.

To complete hastily, usually with down'' or ''off .

He dashed''' down his eggs'', ''she '''dashed off her homework

To draw quickly; jot.

* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1

"Scarborough," Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope, and dashed a bold line beneath; it was her native town; the hub of the universe.

To throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner; to mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality; to overspread partially; to bespatter; to touch here and there.

to dash''' wine with water; to '''dash paint upon a picture

* Addison

I take care to dash the character with such particular circumstance as may prevent ill-natured applications.

* Tennyson

The very source and fount of day / Is dashed with wandering isles of night.

Interjection

(en interjection)

(euphemistic) Damn!

Anagrams

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