dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas; "two streams of development run through American history"; "stream of consciousness"; "the flow of thought"; "the current of history"
a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth
something that resembles a flowing stream in moving continuously; "a stream of people emptied from the terminal"; "the museum had planned carefully for the flow of visitors"
exude profusely; "She was streaming with sweat"; "His nose streamed blood"
flow freely and abundantly; "Tears streamed down her face"
to extend, wave or float outward, as if in the wind; "their manes streamed like stiff black pennants in the wind"
the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior; "we did not understand his motivation"; "he acted with the best of motives"
the act of motivating; providing incentive
the condition of being motivated; "his motivation was at a high level"
the act of changing the location of something; "the movement of cargo onto the vessel"
the driving and regulating parts of a mechanism (as of a watch or clock); "it was an expensive watch with a diamond movement"
a major self-contained part of a symphony or sonata; "the second movement is slow and melodic"
a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something
a group of people with a common ideology who try together to achieve certain general goals; "he was a charter member of the movement"; "politicians have to respect a mass movement"; "he led the national liberation front"
a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine; "they dug a drift parallel with the vein"
the pervading meaning or tenor; "caught the general drift of the conversation"
a general tendency to change (as of opinion); "not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book"; "a broad movement of the electorate to the right"
something that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents
a force that moves something along
the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)
a process of linguistic change over a period of time
be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current; "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting like snow"
be subject to fluctuation; "The stock market drifted upward"
drive slowly and far afield for grazing; "drift the cattle herds westwards"
cause to be carried by a current; "drift the boats downstream"
move in an unhurried fashion; "The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests"
vary or move from a fixed point or course; "stock prices are drifting higher"