释义 |
drift·er \-tə(r)\ noun (-s) 1. a. : a living being that travels or moves about aimlessly < there were about 40 in the family and usually a dozen drifters — W.D.Wyman > < these drifters vary in size from the bacteria and the minute yellowish microscopic plants … to copepods — R.E.Coker > b. : a worker who moves from job to job without remaining long at any one place of employment c. : a person of passive spiritless character lacking aim, ambition, and initiative and given to roving from one diversion to another without any steady interest : temporizer d. : a fierce and driving snowstorm (as in the far north) 2. a. also drifter·man \-tə(r)mən\plural driftermen : a person who fishes with a drift net — called also drift netter b. : a boat equipped for and employed in drift-net fishing — called also drift boat 3. a. : an excavator of mine drifts b. : a rock drill used for driving mine drifts and crosscuts c. : an operator of a heavy drill for drilling through rock in tunnel construction, mining, or quarrying |