hoist

[ hoist or, sometimes, hahyst ]
See synonyms for hoist on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to raise or lift, especially by some mechanical appliance: to hoist a flag; to hoist the mainsail.

  2. to raise to one's lips and drink; drink (especially beer or whiskey) with gusto: Let's go hoist a few beers.

  1. Archaic. a simple past tense and past participle of hoise.

noun
  1. an apparatus for hoisting, as a block and tackle, a derrick, or a crane.

  2. act of hoisting; a lift: Give that sofa a hoist at your end.

  1. Nautical.

    • the vertical dimension amidships of any square sail that is hoisted with a yard.: Compare drop (def. 31).

    • the distance between the hoisted and the lowered position of such a yard.

    • the dimension of a fore-and-aft sail along the luff.

    • a number of flags raised together as a signal.

  2. (on a flag)

    • the vertical dimension as flown from a vertical staff.

    • the edge running next to the staff.: Compare fly2 (def. 30b).

Idioms about hoist

  1. hoist by / with one's own petard. petard (def. 4).

Origin of hoist

1
First recorded in 1540–50; later variant of hoise, with -t as in against, etc.

synonym study For hoist

1. See raise.

Other words for hoist

Opposites for hoist

Other words from hoist

  • hoister, noun
  • un·hoist·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hoist in a sentence

  • Ophelia hoists up two bags of toys at the foot of the bed, explaining each is used for a different entrance.

  • He generally hoists a little flag when a vessel passes near, and is often gratified by a supply of hard-bake.

    The British Expedition to the Crimea | William Howard Russell
  • Th' ammunition hoists ar-re filled with American beauty roses an' orchids.

    Mr. Dooley Says | Finley Dunne
  • He puts up a windlass, worked by hand, over the well-like hole he has dug out, and hoists the ore out in buckets.

    Stories of California | Ella M. Sexton
  • A very modest Romanesque church laboriously hoists skyward a heavy stone belfry amid a clump of elm and nut trees.

    The Surprises of Life | Georges Clemenceau

British Dictionary definitions for hoist

hoist

/ (hɔɪst) /


verb
  1. (tr) to raise or lift up, esp by mechanical means

  2. hoist with one's own petard See petard (def. 2)

noun
  1. any apparatus or device for hoisting

  2. the act of hoisting

  1. nautical

    • the amidships height of a sail bent to the yard with which it is hoisted: Compare drop (def. 15)

    • the difference between the set and lowered positions of this yard

  2. nautical the length of the luff of a fore-and-aft sail

  3. nautical a group of signal flags

  4. the inner edge of a flag next to the staff: Compare fly 1 (def. 25)

Origin of hoist

1
C16: variant of hoise, probably from Low German; compare Dutch hijschen, German hissen

Derived forms of hoist

  • hoister, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012