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