drifter

Etymology

It is formed from English drift + -er.^[2][3][4][5] The OED takes the base as the noun drift, while the Shorter Oxford and Etymonline take it as the verb.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In mining, a man who excavates drifts, horizontal passages: 1864, in the Daily Telegraph.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the miner who cut drifts, it named a heavy percussion drill used for the same work in the early 20th century.^[2][3] From 1883 it was a boat or man fishing with a drift net,^[2][4] and in wartime the Royal Navy used such fishing vessels for patrols and other duties.^[2][3] In the dialects recorded by Wright it meant a fishing boat in Shetland, a fisherman in Cornwall, and in Cumberland a miner who drove a drift.^[6] The general sense, a person who drifts through life, is recorded from 1908,^[2][4] and Merriam-Webster dates the sense of a living being that moves about aimlessly to 1897.^[7] The OED also records a float set adrift to trace sea currents (1897) and a wind that drives snow (1922).^[2]

Timeline

• 1864 – in mining, a man who excavates drifts.^[2][4]
• 1883 – a boat or man fishing with a drift net.^[2][4]
• 1897 – an object left to float to show ocean currents.^[2]
• 1908 – a man leading an aimless or vagrant life.^[2][4]
• 1922 – a wind that makes snow drift.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who moves from place to place, or from job to job, without a fixed home or regular work: He was a drifter who never stayed in one town for long.^[8][7][9]
2. Someone who lacks aim or ambition and lets life carry them along.^[7][2]
3. A fishing boat that uses a drift net.^[8][9][2]
4. A person or thing that drifts.^[8][2]
5. (nautical) A large light jib used in gentle breezes.^[8]
6. (mining) A miner who cuts drifts, or a heavy compressed-air drill used for this work.^[2][3]

Related words

• drift net
• drift

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press