Pointer and Drift

noun

• A mark to indicate a direction or relation.
  • synonyms: arrow
• An indicator as on a dial.
• Computer science) indicator consisting of a movable spot of light (an icon) on a visual display; moving it allows the user to point to commands or screen positions.
  • synonyms: cursor
• A strong slender smooth-haired dog of Spanish origin having a white coat with brown or black patches; scents out and points to game.
  • synonyms: Spanish pointer

• (n.) The two stars (Merak and Dubhe) in the Great Bear, the line between which points nearly in the direction of the north star.
• (n.) One who or that which, points.
• (n.) The hand of a timepiece.
• (n.) Diagonal braces sometimes fixed across the hold.
• (n.) One of a breed of dogs trained to stop at scent of game, and with the nose point it out to sportsmen.

noun

• A force that moves something along.
  • synonyms: impetus, impulsion
• 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.
• A large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents.
• A general tendency to change (as of opinion. )
  • usage: "not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book"; "a broad movement of the electorate to the right"
  • synonyms: trend, movement
• The pervading meaning or tenor.
  • usage: "caught the general drift of the conversation"
  • synonyms: purport
• A horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine.
  • usage: "they dug a drift parallel with the vein"
  • synonyms: heading, gallery

verb

• Be in motion due to some air or water current.
  • usage: "The leaves were blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake"; "The sailboat was adrift on the open sea"; "the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore"
  • synonyms: float, be adrift, blow
• Wander from a direct course or at random.
  • usage: "The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her"; "don't drift from the set course"
  • synonyms: stray, err
• Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment.
  • usage: "The gypsies roamed the woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the next"; "They rolled from town to town"
  • synonyms: roll, wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble, rove, range, vagabond
• Vary or move from a fixed point or course.
  • usage: "stock prices are drifting higher"
• Live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely.
  • usage: "My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school"
  • synonyms: freewheel
• Move in an unhurried fashion.
  • usage: "The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests"
• Cause to be carried by a current.
  • usage: "drift the boats downstream"
• Drive slowly and far afield for grazing.
  • usage: "drift the cattle herds westwards"
• Be subject to fluctuation.
  • usage: "The stock market drifted upward"
• Be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current.
  • usage: "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting like snow"

• (n.) A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.
• (v.i.) To float or be driven along by or as by, a current of water or air; as, the ship drifted astern; a raft drifted ashore; the balloon drifts slowly east.
• (n.) That which is driven, forced or urged along.
• (v.i.) To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps; as, snow or sand drifts.
• (v.t.) To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
• (n.) A driving; a violent movement.
• (n.) The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
• (v.i.) 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.
• (n.) Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
• (n.) Anything driven at random.
• (n.) A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.
• (v.t.) To drive into heaps; as, a current of wind drifts snow or sand.
• (n.) 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; as, a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, and the like.
• (n.) The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
• (n.) 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 agency of ice.
• (n.) In South Africa, a ford in a river.
• (n.) A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.
• (v.t.) To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
• (n.) The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents or other causes.
• (n.) 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.
• (a.) That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud.
• (n.) A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket or like firework.
• (n.) 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.
• (n.) The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
• (n.) The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
• (n.) The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
• (n.) 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.
• (n.) 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.
• (n.) The horizontal component of the pressure of the air on the sustaining surfaces of a flying machine. The lift is the corresponding vertical component, which sustains the machine in the air.
• (n.) One of the slower movements of oceanic circulation; a general tendency of the water, subject to occasional or frequent diversion or reversal by the wind; as, the easterly drift of the North Pacific.

(DoD, NATO) In ballistics, a shift in projectile direction due to gyroscopic action which results from gravitational and atmospherically induced torques on the spinning projectile.