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Words & TermsWar, service and history

adrift

Absent without leave or missing from one's unit/duty, in historical Australian service usage.

In a sentence

In this historical or contextual use, “adrift” means absent without leave or missing from one's unit/duty, in historical Australian service usage.

Where it came from

Australian wartime/service sources use adrift for absence from duty. The sense belongs in the documented service-language layer even though the base word is ordinary English.

Initial era
1900–1949
Where used
Australian military usage; historical

Sources