drift off

1. To move slowly away from someone or something, especially while propelled by wind or water. I held the feather in my palm until it drifted off into the air.

2. To gradually fall sleep. I really do want to watch this movie with you, but I'm so tired that I keep drifting off.

3. To lose interest and stop paying attention to someone or something. I think you need to add some humor to this speech so that your audience doesn't drift off while you're talking.

4. To slowly leave one place or thing to go to another. We all had a hard time saying good-bye to each other, but eventually we all drifted off to our cars.

drift off

to move slowly away. The boat slowly drifted off and was gone. The clouds drifted off and the sun came out.

drift off

1. To move away slowly, especially while being carried by currents of air or water: The stick drifted off with the river current. The child let go of the balloon and it drifted off toward the horizon.

2. To walk slowly toward some other place or area: As they left the cafeteria, the students started drifting off toward the gym.

3. To fall asleep gradually: I drifted off while watching television. I was so tired that I drifted off.

4. To stop listening or paying attention to someone or something: The professor noted that most of the students had drifted off during the lecture.

See also: drift, off

References in periodicals archive ?

It's Obvious that when drivers become drowsy, they are more prone to drift off the road on curves," says Culp.

Rumbling toward safety: Michigan study finds that the most severe run-off crash is the drift-off and that rumble strip design and placement significantly reduce these crashes

If a teacher for example determines that specific students have a tendency to drift off at specific times each day, then strategies can be prescribed to counteract this problem.

How to Recognize and Counteract Student Inattentiveness in the Classroom

A typical result is that such devices will significantly drift off from their original operating point within a few days.

VERY LOW-NOISE SINGLE ELECTRON TUNNELING TRANSISTORS

Back in your room, light the fire, snuggle under your feather comforter, and watch firelight flicker over the room's foot-thick, gently rounded adobe walls before you drift off to sleep.

GALISTEO INN, Galisteo, NM

People tend to drift off of the issue and into new territory.

Seven lessons in medical management

Birds are not cooperative because they can fly out of the field of camera range," he says, watching a few computer specks drift off the screen.

A flight of fancy mathematics: chaos brings harmony to a birder's puzzle

Every evening, as he and his seven companions scaled the peak that is also known as "Denali," he would switch on his SanDisk(R) Digital Audio Player, plug in the ear buds and drift off to a different place and time.

SanDisk Music Player Raises Climbers' Spirits During Chilly Ascent of Alaska's Mt. McKinley; Tiny SanDisk Digital Audio Player Helped Mountaineers Cope with Boredom and Emotional Lows During Ascent of North America's Highest Peak

THE chief executive of BP yesterday urged Scots not to drift off from the UK.

BP boss tells Scots: Don't drift off

What we say You may have to 'work' a little harder than you would during an average spa treatment - there's no chance to just drift off - but this detoxifying wrap is well worth it.

Is it worth it?

The clock ticks The chimes ring out Oh, happy sounds - one hour less to get through till it's time to dress You happy sleepers don't know your luck Into bed and bedclothes tuck Drift off to dreamland, only wake When the alarm goes off - it's past daybreak Thank god for books and Radio 4 World News and all before you happy sleepers deign to rise and rub restful sleep from out your eyes.

Poets' corner

They added: "We're looking to drift off the well trodden path of rock 'n' roll and give it a little nudge here and there.

Feel the NegraTempo beat; sound bites

Coroner Eric Armstrong said: "It seems to me to be likely that he had begun to drift off to sleep, because there seems little other reason for these drifting tyre marks.

Fatigue blamed for fatal smash

I would drift off when my bus was in the terminus and get woken up when passengers boarded.

A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER; Changing direction and starting a whole new career can be daunting but these two people found inspiration when they least expected it

To fully appreciate the sounds and scents of the setting, be sure to swing that porthole open before you drift off to sleep.

MEMORIES SAIL ORIGINAL QUEEN MARY

DRIFT off to a galaxy far far away with the John Cotton Memory Foam Pillow, developed and inspired using NASA space technology.