shift
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.
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.
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.
Idioms about shift
shift gears. gear (def. 19).
Origin of shift
1Other words for shift
Other words from shift
- shift·ing·ly, adverb
- shift·ing·ness, noun
- in·ter·shift·ing, adjective
- re·shift, verb
- trans·shift, verb
- un·shift·ing, adjective
Words that may be confused with shift
- shift , shrift
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use shift in a sentence
The Babadook is the shape of grief: all-enveloping, shape-shifting, black, here intensely, terrifying, then gone.
In the past, Santos has been stubbornly opposed to a bilateral ceasefire, but his position on the issue may be shifting.
Did The U.S.-Cuba Deal Help Drive A Rebel Ceasefire in Colombia? | Richard McColl | December 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe lack of legal clarity is only one piece of an already frenzied and shifting operating environment.
The political impact of shifting demographics is a hot topic.
The sudden shifting of light and shadow in Palmer's life was never more apparent than on the morning of the last game of 1982.
Thus all about us is the moving and shifting spectacle of riches and poverty, side by side, inextricable.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockOnly at moments was he aware of this—a kind of higher Self, detached from shifting moods, looked on calmly and took note.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodWhen the sailors are employed in shifting the sails, great care must be taken to avoid injury by the falling of any of the ropes.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferThen dawn flung itself impetuously across the hills, and the naked rim of the canyon took form in a shifting whirl of smoke.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. SinclairI eventually came to one of the largest, where by considerable shifting they managed to accommodate my car.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car | Thomas D. Murphy
British Dictionary definitions for shift
/ (ʃɪft) /
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 difficulty: no 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
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
Origin of shift
1Derived forms of shift
- shifter, 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
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