Pronunciations (3)
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/ˈʃɪft/
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[ˈʃʰɪft]
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ʃɪft
Noun
A movement to do something, a beginning.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
An act of shifting; a slight movement or change.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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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.
More examples (1)
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.
A share, a portion assigned on division.
Usage- Countable
- Obsolete
- Uncountable
A type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, a slip or chemise.
Usage- Countable
- Historical
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Just last week she bought a new shift at the market.
More examples (2)
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.
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 them some way or other. Accordingly, as soon as the hurry was over, and the servants, as she thought, all gone to sleep, she stole out of her bed, and went down stairs, naked to her shift as she was, with a design to steal them […]
Some wear black shifts and flesh-coloured stockings; some with curly hair, dyed yellow, are dressed like little girls in short muslin frocks.
A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Synonyms
- Examples
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We'll work three shifts a day till the job's done.
More examples (1)
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.
The gear mechanism in a motor vehicle.
Usage- US usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Does it come with a stick-shift?
A control code or character used to change between different character sets.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A control code or character used to change between different character sets. An instance of the use of such a code or character.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A bit shift.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
An infield shift.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Teams often use a shift against this lefty.
The act of kissing passionately.
Usage- Ireland
- often
- Uncountable
- usually
- with the definite article
- Examples
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More examples (2)
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 shifting.
[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?
A contrivance, a device to try when other methods fail.
Usage- Archaic
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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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.
A trick, an artifice.
Usage- Archaic
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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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.
More examples (2)
I'll find a thousand shifts to get away.
Little souls on little shifts rely.
The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A mutation in which the DNA or RNA from two different sources (such as viruses or bacteria) combine.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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 to mobilise.
In violin-playing, any position of the left hand except that nearest the nut.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A period of time in which one's consciousness resides in another reality, usually achieved through meditation or other means.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
be done; ruined
Usage- British
- Countable
- Slang
- Uncountable
Verb
To move from one place to another; to redistribute.
Usage- Figurative
- sometimes
- Transitive
- Examples
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We'll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office.
More examples (2)
By shifting the longitude problem to the scientific community, they stifled public criticism of their inability to solve the problem. […] 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 realities of their life at sea.
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 high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
To change in form or character; switch.
Usage- ergative
- Figurative
- Synonyms
- Examples
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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.
To change position; to move.
Usage- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Reflexive
- sometimes
- Synonyms
- Examples
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She shifted slightly in her seat.
His political stance shifted daily.
More examples (2)
We were hoping he could shift himself to take care of the problem, but he couldn't be shifted.
A maverick is an unbranded calf that has been weaned and shifts for itself.
To change residence; to leave and live elsewhere.
Usage- India
- Intransitive
- Examples
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We are shifting to America next month.
To change (clothes, especially underwear); to change the clothes of.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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'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 […].
To change (someone's) clothes; sometimes specifically, to change underwear.
Usage- Obsolete
- Reflexive
- Transitive
- Examples
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As it were, to ride day and night; and […] not to have patience to shift me.
More examples (1)
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 […].
To change gears (in an automobile).
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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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.
To manipulate a binary number by moving all of its digits left or right; compare rotate.
Usage- Transitive
- Antonyms
- Examples
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Shifting 1001 to the left yields 10010; shifting it right yields 100.
To remove (the first value from an array).
Usage- Transitive
To dispose of, remove.
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
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How can I shift a grass stain?
To hurry; to move quickly.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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If you shift, you might make the 2:19.
More examples (1)
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 trains shift under the wires.
To engage in sexual petting with.
Usage- Ireland
- Slang
- Transitive
- Vulgar
- Examples
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The question is what she's done to Waldron, said Eric. Look at him hiding in his locker there. Come on, spit it out. Did you shift her?
To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to cope, get by, manage, make do.
Usage- Archaic
- Intransitive
- Examples
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You need to learn to shift for yourself.
[…] men in distress will look to themselves in the First Place, and leave their Companions to Shift as well as they can.
More examples (1)
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 as I could not shift for myself.
To practice indirect or evasive methods; to contrive.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
In violin-playing, to move the left hand from its original position next to the nut.
Usage- Intransitive
To use meditation or other means to change the reality that one's consciousness resides in.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I finally shifted to Hogwarts last night!
To steal or kidnap.
Usage- Nigeria
- Slang
To crouch in game, especially if the shift key is pressed to initiate crouching.
Noun
an event in which something is displaced without rotation
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a qualitative change
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
the time period during which you are at work
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
the act of changing one thing or position for another
- Broader terms
- Examples
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his switch on abortion cost him the election
the act of moving from one place to another
- Synonyms
- Examples
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his constant shifting disrupted the class
(geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
- Examples
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they built it right over a geological fault
he studied the faulting of the earth's crust
a crew of workers who work for a specific period of time
- Broader terms
the key on the typewriter keyboard that shifts from lower-case letters to upper-case letters
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a woman's sleeveless undergarment
- Broader terms
a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist
Verb
make a shift in or exchange of
- Synonyms
- Examples
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First Joe led; then we switched
change place or direction
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Shift one's position
move around
- Synonyms
- Examples
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transfer the packet from his trouser pockets to a pocket in his jacket
move very slightly
- Broader terms
- Examples
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He shifted in his seat
move from one setting or context to another
- Examples
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shift the emphasis
shift one's attention
change in quality
- Broader terms
- Examples
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His tone shifted
move and exchange for another
- Broader terms
- Examples
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shift the date for our class reunion
move sideways or in an unsteady way
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The ship careened out of control
move abruptly
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The ship suddenly lurched to the left
use a shift key on a keyboard
- Examples
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She could not shift so all her letters are written in lower case
change phonetically as part of a systematic historical change
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Grimm showed how the consonants shifted
change gears
- Examples
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you have to shift when you go down a steep hill
lay aside, abandon, or leave for another
- Broader terms
- Examples
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switch to a different brand of beer
She switched psychiatrists
More examples (1)
The car changed lanes