/ʃɪft/
OriginThe noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with German Schicht (“layer, shift”).
The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.
- countable, uncountableA movement to do something, a beginning.
- countable, uncountableAn act of shifting; a slight movement or change.
“There was a shift in the political atmosphere.”
“c. 1620-1626, Henry Wotton, letter to Nicholas Pey
My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air.”
“The generational shift Mr. Obama once embodied is, in fact, well under way, but it will not change Washington as quickly — or as harmoniously — as a lot of voters once hoped.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA share, a portion assigned on division.
- countable, historical, uncountableA type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, a slip or chemise.
“Just last week she bought a new shift at the market.”
“No; without a gown, in a shift that was somewhat of the coarsest, and none of the cleanest, bedewed likewise with some odoriferous effluvia, the produce of the day's labour, with a pitchfork in her ha”
“At length, one night, when the company by some accident broke up much sooner than ordinary, so that the candles were not half burnt out, she was not able to resist the temptation, but resolved to have”
- countable, uncountableA simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.
- countable, uncountableA change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time.
“We'll work three shifts a day till the job's done.”
“Work commenced at 2.30 p.m. on Saturday and continued without break until 4 a.m. on Monday morning, in the course of which three shifts of upwards of 90 men each and three steam cranes were employed.”
- US, countable, uncountableThe gear mechanism in a motor vehicle.
“Does it come with a stick-shift?”
- countable, uncountableA control code or character used to change between different character sets.
- countable, uncountableAn instance of the use of such a code or character.
- countable, uncountableA bit shift.
- countable, uncountableAn infield shift.
“Teams often use a shift against this lefty.”
- Ireland, often, uncountable, usuallyThe act of kissing passionately.
“She flicked her hair out of her eyes again and looked into yours as you put your hands on her waist. Then her tongue was in your mouth and yours was in hers. You were getting the shift. Ye were shifti”
“[If] I went on dates with these two [alcohols], right, you're a deep meaningful conversation with this one, … but this one? A shift and a finger and maybe you'd go home, do you know what I mean?”
- archaic, countable, uncountableA contrivance, a device to try when other methods fail.
“If I get down, and do not break my limbs,
I'll find a thousand shifts to get away:
As good to die and go, as die and stay.”
- archaic, countable, uncountableA trick, an artifice.
“And if the boy have not a woman's gift
To rain a shower of commanded tears,
An onion will do well for such a shift”
“Reduced to pitiable shifts.”
“I'll find a thousand shifts to get away.”
- countable, uncountableThe extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
- countable, uncountableA breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
- countable, uncountableA mutation in which the DNA or RNA from two different sources (such as viruses or bacteria) combine.
“This kind of change, called shift - or more memorably, 'viral sex' - tends to trigger a pandemic, because a radically different virus demands a radically different immune response, and that takes time”
- countable, uncountableIn violin-playing, any position of the left hand except that nearest the nut.
- countable, uncountableA period of time in which one's consciousness resides in another reality, usually achieved through meditation or other means.
- British, countable, slang, uncountablebe done; ruined
- A modifier key whose main function is shifting between two or more functions of any of certain other keys (usually by pressing Shift and the other button simultaneously).
- figuratively, sometimes, transitiveTo move from one place to another; to redistribute.
“We'll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office.”
“But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the re”
“The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of ”
- ergative, figurativelyTo change in form or character; switch.
“As a result, I shifted my approach to focus on group-generated activities and broadened the chronological time frame.”
“His voice shifted from song to whisper.”
- figuratively, intransitive, reflexive, sometimesTo change position; to move.
“She shifted slightly in her seat.”
“His political stance shifted daily.”
“We were hoping he could shift himself to take care of the problem, but he couldn't be shifted.”
- India, intransitiveTo change residence; to leave and live elsewhere.
“We are shifting to America next month.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo change (clothes, especially underwear); to change the clothes of.
“'Tis very good to wash his hands and face often, to shift his clothes, to have fair linen about him, to be decently and comely attired […].”
- obsolete, reflexive, transitiveTo change (someone's) clothes; sometimes specifically, to change underwear.
“As it were, to ride day and night; and […] not to have patience to shift me.”
“The first thing he did was to secure a convenient lodging at the inn where he dined; then he shifted himself, and according to the direction he had received, went to the house of Mrs. Gauntlet […].”
- intransitiveTo change gears (in an automobile).
“I crested the hill and shifted into fifth.”
- To move the keys of a typewriter over in order to type capital letters or special characters.
- To switch to a character entry mode for capital letters or special characters.
- transitiveTo manipulate a binary number by moving all of its digits left or right; compare rotate.
“Shifting 1001 to the left yields 10010; shifting it right yields 100.”
- transitiveTo remove (the first value from an array).
- transitiveTo dispose of, remove.
“How can I shift a grass stain?”
- intransitiveTo hurry; to move quickly.
“If you shift, you might make the 2:19.”
“Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable - boy, can those t”
- archaic, intransitiveTo resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to cope, get by, manage, make do.
“[…] men in distress will look to themselves in the First Place, and leave their Companions to Shift as well as they can.”
“My Fellow-Slaves were […] as courteous to me as I could well-expect; and as they had Plantations of their own, they gave me […] such Victuals as they had; especially on dark Nights, and at such Times ”
- intransitiveTo practice indirect or evasive methods; to contrive.
“But this I dare auow of all those Schoole-men, that though they were exceeding wittie, yet they better teach all their Followers to shift, then to resolue, by their distinctions.”
- intransitiveIn violin-playing, to move the left hand from its original position next to the nut.
- intransitiveTo use meditation or other means to change the reality that one's consciousness resides in.
“I finally shifted to Hogwarts last night!”
- Nigeria, slangTo steal or kidnap.
- To crouch in game, especially if the shift key is pressed to initiate crouching.
Formsshifts(plural) · shifts(present, singular, third-person) · shifting(participle, present) · shifted(participle, past) · shifted(past) · Shifts(plural) · shift(alternative)