- sea spray whipped up by gusts of wind and driven across the tops of the waves or snow blown up from the ground in swirls by gusts of wind, driving snow. The force of wind and sea is vividly described by John Galt in The Entail (1823): The ocean boiling with tremendous violence, and the ‘spindrift’ rising like steam.
The usage of spindrift from snow is attested by William Knight in Auld Yule (1869): Now the snaw in spune-drift flew.