shift
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also Shift
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Old English sciftan (“arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftanan. Cognate with Dutch schiften, German schichten, Norwegian skifte.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Verb
shift (third-person singular simple present shifts, present participle shifting, simple past and past participle shifted)
- (transitive) To change, swap.
- His political stance shifted daily.
- (transitive) to move from one place to another; to redistribute.
- We'll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office.
- (intransitive) to change position.
- She shifted slightly in her seat.
- (obsolete, transitive) To change (one's clothes); also to change (someone's) underclothes.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.ii.2:
- '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 [...].
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.ii.2:
- (intransitive) To change gears (in a car).
- I crested the hill and shifted into fifth.
- (transitive, computing) to remove the first value from an array.
- (transitive) to dispose of.
- How can I shift a grass stain?
- (intransitive) to hurry.
- If you shift, you might make the 2:19.
- (Ireland, crude slang) to engage in sexual petting.
[edit] Translations
To change, swap
to move from one place to another
to change position
To change gears
[edit] Noun
shift (plural shifts)
- (historical) a type of women's undergarment, a slip
- Just last week she bought a new shift at the market.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book V, chapter x
- 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 hand, Molly Seagrim approached.
- a 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.
- an act of shifting; a slight movement or change
- There was a shift in the political atmosphere.
- (US) the gear mechanism in a motor vehicle
- Does it come with a stick-shift?
- Alternative spelling of Shift (“the modifier button of computer keyboards”).
- If you press shift-P, the preview display will change.
- (computing) a bit shift
- (baseball) The infield shift.
- Teams often use the shift against this lefty.
[edit] Derived terms
- blueshift
- day shift
- graveyard shift
- night shift
- preshift
- shift break
- shiftwork, shift work
- split shift
- swing shift
- stickshift
- redshift
[edit] Translations
type of women's undergarment — see slip
change of workers
act of shifting
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gear mechanism in a motor vehicle
