The earliest quotation in the Oxford English Dictionary for this sense of "drift" is dated 1526: "Harde it is . . . to perceyue the processe and dryfte of this treatyse."
Found on "Phrases dot org"
The speaker may be having trouble communicating with their audience and not knowing how to better explain.
This is similar to "do you feel me?" or "do you get it?".
Otherwise there is a certain mentality and a certain consciousness along with what the speaker & the audience are generally known to understand.
Bugsy says to his cohorts in crime "I tookcare of it. Do you catch my drift?".
Short-hand for the word floccinaucinihilipilification, meaning the estimation of something as valueless (encountered mainly as an example of one of the longest words in the English language).
Precedes or follows either a gratuitously disrespectful or honest remark, originated in New York City. Used in similar fashion to "no offense" or "to be honest," interchangeably.
Ya mans is wild buns, respectfully. Respectfully he's washed.
After school, The Modells on Jamaica Ave was active. Respectfully.