I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a breeze drifts (= blows very gently )
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A cool breeze drifted through the window.
a drift of snow (= snow blown into a pile by the wind )
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Sheep became buried in six-foot drifts of snow.
a mist drifts (= moves slightly )
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A mist drifted over the marsh.
clouds drift/float (= move slowly )
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A few clouds drifted across the top of the mountains.
continental drift
drift in and out of consciousness (= be awake and then not awake, and then awake again, etc )
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He had a high temperature and was drifting in and out of consciousness.
drift in and out of sleep (= keep almost waking up )
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I lay in the garden, drifting in and out of sleep.
drift/drop off to sleep (= start sleeping, especially without meaning to )
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She’d drifted off to sleep on the sofa.
smoke drifts
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The cigarette smoke drifted away on the breeze.
snow drifts (= is blown into deep piles )
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The snow had drifted up against the hedge.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
along
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Behind her the enchanted dancers spun on; the focus of the circle was now drifting along a violet-lit corridor.
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Sometimes Alek rented a boat alone and let it drift along the river past their building.
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Instead of drifting along the ceiling of the corridor, the smoke moves along as a solid plug.
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He was drifting along , looking half asleep, hands still over his ears.
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A watery mist drifted along the corridors of the castle.
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Barges rocked gently in front of the Town Hall, the smell of fish drifted along the river wharf.
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A smell that made him think of disinfectant drifted along the street to mock him.
apart
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Later in life, Lewis and his father drifted apart , never to be reconciled.
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We grew up, went off to different places, drifted apart .
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Jabbing with the point he kept off Alexei's attack until the reaction of their mid-air collision made them drift apart again.
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If there is any twosome in a family likely to drift apart , it is a pair of brothers.
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If you do nothing, there's a danger you could drift apart .
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Amelia was still engaged to Sam Chapman, but in fact she had been drifting apart from him for some time.
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Without the cement of regular meetings or contact, they gradually began to drift apart .
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Where languages grow most unlike one another as they drift apart is in the shapes of their words.
around
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Chopra could sense ghosts drifting around the castle.
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Without other references to compare it with, the light seemed to drift around in the blackness.
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At one school during a parents' coffee morning the conversation drifted around to the subject to school uniform.
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But she could smell the danger; it drifted around her like a pungent perfume.
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We drift around looking the place over for accommodation, eventually selecting a wooden building called Sand Dune Apartments.
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Her famine leanness was softened by all the scarlet hair drifting around her.
away
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As the oar disappeared into the distance, his last chance of returning to the team's hotel with dignity drifted away .
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Now that managed funds are doing somewhat better, will investors drift away from index funds?
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Some of these girls might, however, drift away again when they reach their crisis period.
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If the system started to drift away from the requirements of a coral reef, Gomez would flush the trays.
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As a result circulation has fallen by half, and big advertisers have drifted away .
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Spectators along the road drifted away as Wasiqi made his way through the course.
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Then, inexplicably, I had been out of work for over a year and my few friends were drifting away .
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The downturn in the energy industry dragged on so long that workers drifted away and oil field equipment became outdated.
back
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He had been drifting back and forth between the two ever since.
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As the submersible glides over them, clouds of orange dust rise, swirl about, and slowly drift back down.
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He hasn't drifted back to his own place yet, eh?
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At sundown the men drifted back from the fields exhausted and steaming.
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The brain drifts back to full consciousness now that there is a vague hint of light spreading across the eastern sky.
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When reports began to drift back from pentecostal revivals abroad, the flaming marvels became even more spectacular.
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Her thoughts drifted back to Spike, the metal man, who had been killed less than an hour ago.
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But she largely drifted back to B pictures until the Riley series was resurrected in 1953.
by
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It took just one of the party girls to drift by and break up his life.
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The heat shimmering over the asphalt had no snap to it; time drifted by .
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Another four years would drift by , and she would still be tied to Julius Landor.
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Minutes drifted by in silence that was sweet to us.
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Streetlights and shop windows are like stars drifting by .
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There may be some high clouds drifting by during the afternoon.
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Kenneth Clarke drifted by under his Home Secretarial escort.
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Al Maghrun airfield drifted by on the right.
down
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By the end of our conversation the other players were drifting down to dinner.
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I saw her drift down through the steam; she stuck in her elbow.
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And the rich, savoury smell of the hare drifted down to meet her, turning her stomach.
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Slowly it drifts down across the sea-curled weeds, the anchored life of the marine world.
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The emphasis has to be on quality not quantity, otherwise the game will drift down a cul-de-sac of mediocrity.
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It had begun to snow, and small flakes were drifting down to settle on their eyelashes.
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His hands drifted down my neck and settled on my shoulders.
further
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This nearly always results in drifting further back without much gain of height and ending up in a worse situation than before.
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We felt as if we were driving into the heart of the wilderness, our deadlines drifting further and further away.
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The second submarine was being attacked now, but all the time the sound of combat was drifting further away.
in
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One theory is that the oil has sunk, and is drifting in globules a few metres below the surface of the water.
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Cold air drifted in through the front door.
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As they waited, other women drifted in and joined the madres.
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Who's to say who drifted in , and then drifted out?
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She leaned out of the window, trying to enjoy the fresher air; a scent of burning rubber drifted in .
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Various actors and entertainers drifted in and out of the Rat Pack.
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What if it hadn't drifted in by accident?
off
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They would start coming in late and drifting off early.
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Basically people curled up wherever they found themselves and drifted off .
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When he drifted off to sleep at last Henry's cheeks were quite pink with shame.
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After he drifted off I got up from my typewriter, knelt beside the couch and stared at his face.
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Large as icebergs they drifted off to the north carrying the remaining followers of the Witch King.
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Many see their first shooting star, and with that, drift off to never-never land.
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Perhaps she drifted off in the bath.
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Finally he would stretch out, his breathing would become more regular and he would drift off .
on
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Between searingly bright periods, the sky boils with thundery clouds that drift on by without releasing a drop.
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Then the van rolls forward, gathers speed, and drifts on by.
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Perhaps we should think about it, instead of drifting on from day to day.
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The purplish thing drifted on to the beach, but I felt too lazy to walk over and examine it.
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And so, essentially, this grey situation drifts on-whilst the most basic question of all emerges.
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If the paddler builds up speed and then stops paddling, the boat will drift on in a straight line.
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So the party drifted on , groups finding each other, merging and then subdividing to make other groups.
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He drifted on upwards at an angle.
out
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Eventually we drift out into the leafy park behind the museum.
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Louis music drifts out of clubs large and small throughout the city.
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Or sometimes, did not drift out ?
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Primo had drifted out of the conversation.
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She stepped aside into the doorway of the next room while Luch drifted out and down the stair.
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Twenty-four hours until kick-off and the hyperbole was drifting out of control.
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Awards over and bottles emptied, marketing's great and good drifted out into the night.
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The thief drifts out towards the door.
over
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Tiny feathers of cloud drifted over the horizon like a flock of fire-birds.
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The chatter of playing children drifted over from the tent village beside the rows of parked trucks.
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She woke slowly from a vague dream as an errant breeze drifted over her face, coming to rest on her mouth.
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Women began drifting over to the table.
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Smoke that smelt of churches poured from the wicks, drifted over the slowly heaving ocean, hid their feet.
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Clouds drifted over to veil the almost full moon, and I heard somewhere from Gammon Ridge a deep, howling wail.
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He sat back and let their conversation drift over him.
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By morning thick clouds drift over , but the sky between them is deep blue and occasionally the sun peeks through.
slowly
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A fine trail of dust dislodged from the door frame and drifted slowly to the ground.
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As the submersible glides over them, clouds of orange dust rise, swirl about, and slowly drift back down.
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He'd made a good start but now he was faltering, and the focus of attention was drifting slowly away from him.
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She watched it with pity and horror in her heart as it drifted slowly toward her.
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The sudden breeze introduced through the open door disturbed the orbit of the drone and sent the Doctor drifting slowly backwards.
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The flickering insect halo began to drift slowly away, keeping a constant six feet above the earth.
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In mid-stream Meg let Ben take the oars from her, changing seats with him nimbly as the boat drifted slowly about.
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Vass regarded her flushed face, then let his eyes drift slowly down the length of her slender, dressing-gown-clad figure.
up
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Superstitions and visions drifted up through the tribes and peoples like evening mists along the Nile.
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I got up to close it, and a faint, almost imaginary hum of traffic drifted up out of the valley.
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A long groan drifted up the steps.
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As we began our dive, smoke drifted up from the jungle ahead of us.
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As the ground drifted up he saw the barbarian standing stock still, chest heaving, arms hanging loosely by his sides.
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The fragrance of new millet drifted up on a southwestern breeze, reminding him that harvest was approaching.
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Voices drifted up through the floorboards every Thursday night.
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He let his eyes drift up .
■ NOUN
boat
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Today, two empty boats are drifting home across the hollow fields of fished-out sea.
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The boat I stole was drifting down the river, not that I cared, with my blouse and shoes in it.
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The boat was drifting into the current, the long poles dipping in the dark water and pushing her away.
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It looked as if the caracara would polish off the duck; but our boat drifting nearer made it nervous.
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When the Halliday brothers eventually sighted Johnstone, the boat was drifting aimlessly with the tide.
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In mid-stream Meg let Ben take the oars from her, changing seats with him nimbly as the boat drifted slowly about.
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He brought her into focus, letting the boat drift out of mind.
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I stopped the boat and drifted as near as I dared.
cloud
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Between searingly bright periods, the sky boils with thundery clouds that drift on by without releasing a drop.
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As the road climbed upward, gray-white cloud veils drifted among the dales, chiffon scarves of some giant Isadora Duncan.
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Tiny feathers of cloud drifted over the horizon like a flock of fire-birds.
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By morning thick clouds drift over, but the sky between them is deep blue and occasionally the sun peeks through.
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It was a mild night with clouds drifting across the sky and occasionally obscuring the new moon.
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There may be some high clouds drifting by during the afternoon.
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Next, look up at the blue sky - and notice a small, dark cloud drifting past.
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Rise above the landscape, and experience yourself as the whole sky - with clouds drifting inconsequentially through your vastness.
consciousness
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The brain drifts back to full consciousness now that there is a vague hint of light spreading across the eastern sky.
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He is thought to have a fractured skull and is drifting in and out of consciousness .
conversation
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In no time the conversation drifted naturally to him and Rosemary.
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He sat back and let their conversation drift over him.
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There was the hum of cars up on the main road. Conversation drifted over you as families sauntered by.
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At one school during a parents' coffee morning the conversation drifted around to the subject to school uniform.
gaze
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Idly, he let his gaze drift across the horizon.
mind
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His hands were automatically driving, but his mind was drifting elsewhere.
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Her mind drifted and blanked, refusing her efforts to focus.
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Her mind drifted back to the first day they'd seen Crystal Springs.
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The shit that could be on his mind drifts upward and stays up there until he finally stands still.
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Her mind was drifting on the waves of her pain.
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She tried to think of nothing at all, but found her mind drifting back to that one subject all the time.
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Frowning, she let her mind drift back to the events of two years ago.
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His mind drifted away on the tides of the kif, and then floated back.
mist
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Snake-like curls of mist drifted downwards.
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Prom somewhere, and none could say quite where, a mist began to drift .
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A watery mist drifted along the corridors of the castle.
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January: mist drifts over the fields, deepening like water.
night
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It was a mild night with clouds drifting across the sky and occasionally obscuring the new moon.
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Through the haze of sleep, vague details of last night began drifting into her mind.
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He had lain in bed night after night drifting into sleep on a tide of euphoria.
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Various schemes were mooted for the night , various groups drifted in and out.
river
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It must have drifted down the river .
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The boat I stole was drifting down the river , not that I cared, with my blouse and shoes in it.
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They were now drifting down river much faster than before.
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Sometimes Alek rented a boat alone and let it drift along the river past their building.
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Barges rocked gently in front of the Town Hall, the smell of fish drifted along the river wharf.
room
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A gentle Mozart sonata drifted round the room .
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He drifts through the living room toward the windows, apparently to check the view.
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She would drift listlessly about the rooms , her dreams extinguished.
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People come drifting into the room to see what's up.
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The passengers drifted in from their rooms and the dome car and fell into by now predictable patterns of seating.
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Acrid fumes from the gunfire drifted round the silent room .
sea
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It reproduces by releasing single-celled spores which drift off in the sea and grow into new plants.
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A few chuckles and snatches of song could be heard drifting across the sea of sheep, then silence.
sleep
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Even if the man drifted close to sleep , which the stillness encouraged, the union remained unbroken.
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She had passed out there-or perhaps just lain down and drifted into sleep .
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Whenever he drifts toward sleep he feels close to distinguishing the words.
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As soon as she drifted into sleep , she was back in the Close, her gaze locked on the white huddled figure.
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Bobby must have drifted into sleep for he was wakened by a knock at the door.
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Tired after two performances that day, she began to drift between sleep and wakefulness.
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With the sedative, Marek drifted into sleep but he did not wake up.
smell
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And the rich, savoury smell of the hare drifted down to meet her, turning her stomach.
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As the smell of fresh paint drifted through the air it became linked for us with summer and liberty.
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A faint smell of frying bacon drifted up from the kitchen.
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The smell of the smoke drifted back towards Cassie across the garden.
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The smell of evil embrocation drifted up even as high as the clouds of Heaven.
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Barges rocked gently in front of the Town Hall, the smell of fish drifted along the river wharf.
smoke
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Trails of blue cigarette smoke would drift tentatively upward.
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As we began our dive, smoke drifted up from the jungle ahead of us.
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The smell of the smoke drifted back towards Cassie across the garden.
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The wind lifts the smoke and drifts it away....
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Unseen in the wild night, the occasional wisp of smoke drifted among the trunks.
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A light wind sprang up, and the smoke of their guns drifted over the valley towards the cemetery.
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They made towards it as the first flare hit the sea, continuing to burn, with clouds of smoke drifting upwards.
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The smoke drifted lazily away to the westward, revealing to us the gray lines steadily advancing...
sound
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Glancing around, she deduced from the sounds drifting from the kitchen that Tara was preparing a meal.
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The others nodded, made agreeable sounds , and drifted off down the corridor.
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She fell asleep to the sound of music drifting upwards from the drawing-room.
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A loud crash could be heard from the room and the sound of wailing drifted into the courtroom, startling onlookers.
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The sound of singing came drifting up from the quays below.
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The sound of hammering drifted down from Fernbank.
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The second submarine was being attacked now, but all the time the sound of combat was drifting further away.
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It was still very early and the village of Axe was quiet, but morning sounds drifted faintly to her ears.
thought
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Her thoughts drifted , but she was not asleep.
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Time and again his thoughts would begin to drift , and soon thereafter his steps would follow suit.
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Her thoughts drifted back to Spike, the metal man, who had been killed less than an hour ago.
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Her thoughts drifted to when she herself had been seventeen.
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His thoughts drifted back to the Connons.
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His thoughts kept drifting back to Zoser.
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But the daggers had remained sheathed during the meal, and she had allowed her thoughts to drift into those glittering waters.
voice
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Less than a minute later noise erupted from the drawing room and excited voices drifted down the hall.
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Once or twice he found himself tugged away on the backwash of voices , drifting here and there.
wind
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Every angle, line and contour were gently rounded as though the snow had drifted slightly in the wind .
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The scents of its rare grasses and reeds drift gently on the wind bringing calm and tranquillity to its banks.
window
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At first she could see only a shape drifting before the windows on the first floor.
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Birdsong drifted through the open window and a breeze puffed out the curtains.
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The voice of Miss Norman, the games teacher, drifted in at the window now and again.
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Marge helped serve coffee and triple-layer cake from the old highboy, as the scent of roses drifted through the open windows .
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Coolness drifted in the window , and a fragrance of wet grass.
■ VERB
allow
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Unfortunately, the legal aid statistics have not provided the direct evidence that the levels have been allowed to drift .
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It can not be allowed to drift into complacency.
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Susan allowed the ship to drift down, and relaxed as the bulk settled into the receptive, motherly ground.
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Disrupting the pavement also allows sand dunes to drift into habitable areas.
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Don't allow your attention to drift .
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Houseplants should be allowed to drift into semi-dormancy.
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But the daggers had remained sheathed during the meal, and she had allowed her thoughts to drift into those glittering waters.
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The district health authority could not be in a better position because it allowed the situation to drift .
begin
▪
When Bath won an attacking scrum on the right and Swift began to drift across his marker did not follow him.
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Women began drifting over to the table.
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The excitement died away and the crowd began to drift off down the side streets.
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Time and again his thoughts would begin to drift , and soon thereafter his steps would follow suit.
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At this point the Arsenal fans began to drift home, their evening well and truly over.
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When reports began to drift back from pentecostal revivals abroad, the flaming marvels became even more spectacular.
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Materials and food prices began to drift downwards from the summer of 1973.
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After several weeks of disrupted business, the dealers began to drift away.
let
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He sat back and let their conversation drift over him.
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If you have an agitated mind, the tension in your body is not going to let you drift off.
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Casually she let her scarf drift to the ground.
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He let his eyes drift up.
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An odd kind of row, he mused, letting himself drift .
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Sometimes Alek rented a boat alone and let it drift along the river past their building.
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Snuggling into Patrick, she closed her eyes and let the memories drift in front of her closed lids.
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Vass regarded her flushed face, then let his eyes drift slowly down the length of her slender, dressing-gown-clad figure.
seem
▪
A fleeting, hard look seemed to drift across her eyes.
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We seemed to drift into tranquility once we reached the long plateau stretch on the high road to Taos.
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According to our panel all three parties, including Labour, seemed to drift away from the issue as the campaign progressed.
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She noticed that everyone seemed to have drifted a little closer; was talking a little less, watching their backs.
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Fred seems to have drifted off into a half-lit world.
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Without other references to compare it with, the light seemed to drift around in the blackness.
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The fine mist at the edges of the room seemed to be drifting closer, enveloping her in its clinging tendrils.
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For a time it overcame her, and she seemed to drift in black depths.
start
▪
I got it when things started drifting away from us around February time.
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If the system started to drift away from the requirements of a coral reef, Gomez would flush the trays.
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But this was not enough to keep away mosquitoes, which started to arrive and drift towards the flames.
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Gradually they started drifting away to the main building to eat and sleep.
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As a result she starts to drift through space in the opposite direction.
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He should have enough time to finish his drink and be away before his fellow-officers started to drift in.
tend
▪
Each follows the inputs nearer to it and tends to drift away from other nodes.
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The problem is that the meaning of a sentence tends to drift off into what linguists would call the Indeterminate Adverbial Phrase.
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Answer guide: If concise objectives are not set organizations will tend to drift a long not knowing where they are going.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
grow/drift apart
▪
I think Dan and Tina just grew apart .
▪
If there is any twosome in a family likely to drift apart , it is a pair of brothers.
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Instead, it was suggested the couple, who married in their early 20s, had simply grown up and grown apart .
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Jabbing with the point he kept off Alexei's attack until the reaction of their mid-air collision made them drift apart again.
▪
Later in life, Lewis and his father drifted apart , never to be reconciled.
▪
Such barrenness is the inevitable outcome where two people are growing apart and out of love.
▪
We grew up, went off to different places, drifted apart .
▪
Work-inhibited students have not grown apart from their parents and become independent.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
All night Julie drifted in and out of consciousness.
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Vargas Llosa's politics gradually drifted to the right.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
A fine trail of dust dislodged from the door frame and drifted slowly to the ground.
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Gradually they started drifting away to the main building to eat and sleep.
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I walked at his side as if I were drunk, bumping into him, drifting crazily off.
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Ideas drifted quietly like falling petals into his mind.
▪
It felt as though she'd drifted into some dreamlike watery paradise.
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The smoke drifted lazily away to the westward, revealing to us the gray lines steadily advancing...
▪
They presently look like a team that could drift farther into oblivion each week.
▪
We will pay special attention to the underlying social problems in high-crime areas, particularly to prevent young people drifting into crime.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
snow
▪
A snow drift of paper is going to hit it.
▪
His presidential hopes thus suffered a fatal blow in the snow drifts of New Hampshire.
▪
Mountain goats have to contend with narrow ice-covered ledges, deep snow drifts and avalanches.
■ VERB
catch
▪
She could feel the red stain crawl up her neck as she caught his drift .
▪
Right from Huntington Beach, if you catch the drift .
▪
There are more where that came from, but you will easily catch the drift .
▪
The old man craned his head to catch a drift of the conversation.
▪
He caught the drift of her thoughts, she could tell.
▪
She wiped her eyes with a lace handkerchief and he caught the drift of her exotic scent.
▪
Some of the other children were sitting up, alert now, as they caught the drift of what he was saying.
▪
If you catch my on-shore drift .
get
▪
The flush in the pocket types, then bought hot sausages on sticks. Get my drift .
▪
Rules of engagement there are, but like I say, freedom of action, if you get my drift .
▪
I've forgotten when I was last there. Get my drift ?
▪
No, but-do you get my drift ?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
All the roads to Denver were blocked by snow drifts.
▪
I follow your drift , but I just don't believe it.
▪
It was a complicated argument but I think I caught his drift .
▪
The drift of his letter is that he wants to come back.
▪
The party has experienced a drift toward the right in the last two years.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
He was breathing, but his leg was a mess, must have been hit on the drift down.
▪
High winds were becoming a problem, blowing snow into drifts 3 to 5 feet high in places.
▪
His presidential hopes thus suffered a fatal blow in the snow drifts of New Hampshire.
▪
Make sure that you correct the drift before touch down and then be prepared to prevent the swing into wind.
▪
The drifts were granulated and shrinking under my eyes.
▪
The endless drift from the past to the future.