Drift
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Drift is the slow long-term variation of an attribute or value of a system or device. Examples are the continental drift, the language drift, drift of frequency, and drift of technical parameters.
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Telecommunication
In telecommunication, a drift is a comparatively long-term change in an attribute or value of a system or equipment operational parameter.
The drift should be characterized, such as "diurnal frequency drift" and "output level drift."
Drift is usually undesirable and unidirectional, but may be bidirectional, cyclic, or of such long-term duration and low excursion rate as to be negligible.
Source: from Federal Standard 1037C and from MIL-STD-188
Linguistics
In linguistics, drift is the variation of speech. Edward Sapir gives the example "Whom did you see" which was grammatically correct, but it was replaced by "Who did you see". The common sense and the new grammatical structure required the change. "Whom" was avoided. "The woman whom you see" was replaced by "the woman you see." The drift of speech changes dialects and in long terms, it generates new languages. Although you can think, these changes have no direction, in general they have. For example, in the English language, there was the Great Vowel Shift. In future, there may be also new English dialects.
Source: "Language An Introduction to Speech", by Edward Sapir
Mining
In mining jargon, a drift is a nearly horizontal underground tunnel, as opposed to a shaft which is a nearly vertical tunnel. If possible, drifts are driven at a slight incline so that removal of material can be assisted by gravity.
Geology
In geology, drift is rock debris transported and deposited by or from ice, especially by or from a glacier. Continental drift refers to the relative motion of the continents over millions of years.
Metalworking
In metalworking, a drift or drift pin is the name for several kinds of tools used for enlarging holes, or aligning holes prior to bolting or riveting metal parts together.
Plasma physics
In the study of magnetized plasmas, the motion of the guiding centers of the particles is called a drift because it is (by assumption) slow compared to the gyration in the magnetic field.
Evolutionary biology
See genetic drift
Car driving / Street racing
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Drifting is a driving technique in which the driver forces the car to oversteer and tries (through use of engine torque, the handbrake and the pendulum effect) to keep the rear end of the car sliding (and the car itself sideways) for as long as possible.
This technique has evolved from the driving style of the great rally drivers of the '60s and '70s, who deliberately caused their cars to oversteer before the entrance of a bend ("Scandinavian Flick" technique), to help them carry more speed through corners.
During the early 1990s, Japanese street racers started racing on deserted mountain roads, to avoid police. They experimented with oversteer and the pendulum effect, and soon became masters of the 'drifting' technique.
Within a short period of time, 'drifting' became popular around the world, promoted not only by word of mouth but also by various Japanese videos (e.g. the 'Option' videos), showing this technique at its finest. Today, 'drift' races are held in most first-world countries, where drivers must keep their cars sideways for the whole length of a racetrack while retaining relatively high speeds and total vehicle control.
Drifting is very difficult to master, and completely different from the traditional track racing styles. Most racers use rear-wheel-drive cars, which they consider more balanced.
Popular cars for drifting are : Nissan 200SX, Toyota AE86 (Corolla/Levin/Trueno), Nissan Skyline, Mazda RX-7.