The Collaborative International Dictionary
Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, a. [L. erraticus, fr. errare to wander: cf. F. erratique. See Err.]
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Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.
The earth and each erratic world.
--Blackmore. Deviating from a wise of the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; strange; queer; as, erratic conduct.
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Irregular; changeable. ``Erratic fever.''
--Harvey.Erratic blocks, gravel, etc. (Geol.), masses of stone which have been transported from their original resting places by the agency of water, ice, or other causes.
Erratic phenomena, the phenomena which relate to transported materials on the earth's surface.
Usage examples of "erratic blocks".
And as a clincher, the Brazilian deposits include many erratic blocks of such rock as quartzite, dolomite, and chert, which resemble none of the structures that make up Brazil, but which are common in southwest Africa.
There also are heaped up those erratic blocks which are carried along by the broken ice.
These elevated summits consist of rounded cones, between which the soil is bestrewn with erratic blocks of stone and gravelly bowlders.