shift

[ shift ]

/ ʃɪft /

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR shift ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to put (something) aside and replace it by another or others; change or exchange: to shift friends; to shift ideas.

to transfer from one place, position, person, etc., to another: to shift the blame onto someone else.

Automotive. to change (gears) from one ratio or arrangement to another.

Linguistics. to change in a systematic way, especially phonetically.

verb (used without object)

to move from one place, position, direction, etc., to another.

to manage to get along or succeed by oneself.

to get along by indirect methods; use any expediency, trick, or evasion to get along or succeed: He shifted through life.

to change gears in driving an automobile.

Linguistics. to undergo a systematic, especially phonetic, change.

to press a shift key, as on a typewriter keyboard.

Archaic. to change one's clothes.

noun

a change or transfer from one place, position, direction, person, etc., to another: a shift in the wind.

a person's scheduled period of work, especially the portion of the day scheduled as a day's work when a shop, service, office, or industry operates continuously during both the day and night: She prefers the morning shift.

a group of workers scheduled to work during such a period: The night shift reported.

Baseball. a notable repositioning by several fielders to the left or the right of their normal playing position, an occasional strategy against batters who usually hit the ball to the same side of the field.

Automotive. a gearshift.

Clothing.

a straight, loose-fitting dress worn with or without a belt.
a woman's chemise or slip.

Football. a lateral or backward movement from one position to another, usually by two or more offensive players just before the ball is put into play.

Mining. a dislocation of a seam or stratum; fault.

Music. a change in the position of the left hand on the fingerboard in playing a stringed instrument.

Linguistics.

a change or system of parallel changes that affects the sound structure of a language, as the series of related changes in the English vowel system from Middle English to Modern English.
a change in the meaning or use of a word.Compare functional shift.

an expedient; ingenious device.

an evasion, artifice, or trick.

change or substitution.

Bridge. shift bid.

Agriculture. (in crop rotation)

any of successive crops.
the tract of land used.

an act or instance of using the shift key, as on a typewriter keyboard.

Nearby words

Idioms

shift gears. gear(def 19).

Origin of shift

before 1000; (v.) Middle English shiften to arrange, Old English sciftan; cognate with German schichten to arrange in order, Old Norse skipta to divide; (noun) Middle English: contrivance, start, derivative of the v.

SYNONYMS FOR shift

1. substitute. 22. contrivance, resource, resort. 23. wile, ruse, subterfuge, stratagem.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR shift ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

shift·ing·ly, adverbshift·ing·ness, nounin·ter·shift·ing, adjectivere·shift, verb

trans·shift, verbun·shift·ing, adjective

Can be confusedshift shrift

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for shift

Most other social justice movements are seeking some shift of power and money.
The Real Story Behind the Fight for Marriage Equality|E.J. Graff|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And Asians also showed a shift toward the GOP in the mid-terms.
Time to Bring Back the Truman Democrats|Joel Kotkin|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He didn't want to be there exposed, unable to shift the focus when he felt like it.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There is no doubt that some unfortunate reporter, tasked with working the weekend shift, would have looked into them.
The IRS Email Double Standard|Matt Lewis|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The shift in language and content is click-bait for the enterprising eBay-er.
Dismembering History: The Shady Online Trade in Ancient Texts|Candida Moss|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He could not, of course, leave his master to shift for himself on the highways in such a condition.
The Story of Don Quixote|Arvid Paulson, Clayton Edwards, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
For he found out such a shift, that in hys flatterying he passed us all the many.
The Town|Leigh Hunt
"It's very true; they're nice," Nana would say as she lingered on the floor to change her shift.
Nana, The Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille|Emile Zola
It was ahead and reverse, ahead and reverse, with only the briefest of pauses in which to shift the gears.
Dutch Courage and Other Stories|Jack London
He could shift to either Foot and he kept his Maxillary covered.
Ade's Fables|George Ade

British Dictionary definitions for shift

shift

/ (ʃɪft) /

verb

to move or cause to move from one place or position to another

(tr) to change for another or others

to change (gear) in a motor vehicle

(intr) (of a sound or set of sounds) to alter in a systematic way

(intr) to provide for one's needs (esp in the phrase shift for oneself)

(intr) to proceed by indirect or evasive methods

to remove or be removed, esp with difficultyno detergent can shift these stains

(intr) slang to move quickly

(tr) computing to move (bits held in a store location) to the left or right

noun

the act or an instance of shifting

a group of workers who work for a specific period

the period of time worked by such a group

an expedient, contrivance, or artifice

the displacement of rocks, esp layers or seams in mining, at a geological fault

an underskirt or dress with little shaping

Derived Formsshifter, noun

Word Origin for shift

Old English sciftan; related to Old Norse skipta to divide, Middle Low German schiften, to separate

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

Word Origin and History for shift

shift

Old English sciftan, scyftan "arrange, place, order," also "divide, partition; distribute, allot, share," from Proto-Germanic *skiftan (cf. Old Norse skipta "to divide, change, separate," Old Frisian skifta "to decide, determine, test," Dutch schiften "to divide, turn," German schichten "to classify," Schicht "shift"). This is said to be related to the source of Old English sceadan "divide, separate," (see shed (v.)).

c.1200 as "to dispose; make ready; set in order, control," also intransitive, "take care of oneself." From c.1300 as "to go, move, depart; move (someone or something), transport." Sense of "to alter, to change" appeared mid-13c. (cf. shiftless). Meaning "change the gear setting of an engine" is from 1910; to shift gears in the figurative sense is from 1961. Related: Shifted; shifting.

shift

n.1

c.1300, "a movement, a beginning," from shift (v.). This is the word in to make shift "make efforts" (mid-15c.). Sense of "change, alteration" is from 1560s. Sense of "means to an end" is from 1520s; hence "an expedient." Meaning "mechanism for changing gear in a motor vehicle" is recorded from 1914. Typewriter shift key is from 1893; shift-lock is from 1899.

Meaning "period of working time" (originally in a mine) is attested from 1809, with older sense "relay of horses" (1708); perhaps with sense influenced by a North Sea Germanic cognate word (e.g. North Frisian skeft "division, stratum," skaft "one of successive parties of workmen"). Similar double senses of "division" and "relay of workers" exist in Swedish skift, German schicht.

n.2

"body garment, underclothing," 1590s, originally used alike of men's and women's pieces, probably from shift (n.1), which was commonly used in reference to a change of clothes. In 17c., it began to be used as a euphemism for smock, and was itself displaced, for similar reasons of delicacy, in 19c. by chemise.

Medicine definitions for shift

shift

[ shĭft ]

v.

To move or transfer from one place or position to another.

To alter position or place.

To exchange one thing for another of the same type or class.

n.

A change from one person or configuration to another; a substitution.

A change in position.

shift

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

noun

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