GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Shift , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Shifting.] [OE. shiften, schiften, to divide, change, remove. AS. sciftan to divide; akin to LG. & D. schiften to divide, distinguish, part Icel. skipta to divide, to part, to shift, to change, Dan skifte, Sw. skifta, and probably to Icel. skīfa to cut into slices, as n., a slice, and to E. shive, sheave, n., shiver, n.]
   To divide; to distribute; to apportion. [Obs.]
   1913 Webster
   To which God of his bounty would shift
   Crowns two of flowers well smelling.
   Chaucer.
   
   1913 Webster
   To change the place of; to move or remove from one place to another; as, to shift a burden from one shoulder to another; to shift the blame.
   1913 Webster
   Hastily he schifte him[self].
   Piers Plowman.
   
   1913 Webster
   Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days,
   Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways.
   Tusser.
   
   1913 Webster
   To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to turn; as, to shift the helm or sails.
   1913 Webster
   Carrying the oar loose, [they] shift it hither and thither at pleasure.
   Sir W. Raleigh.
   
   1913 Webster
   To exchange for another of the same class; to remove and to put some similar thing in its place; to change; as, to shift the clothes; to shift the scenes.
   1913 Webster
   I would advise you to shift a shirt.
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively. [Obs.]
   1913 Webster
   As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to have patience to shift me.
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   To put off or out of the way by some expedient. “I shifted him away.”
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   To shift off, to delay; to defer; to put off; to lay aside. -- To shift the scene, to change the locality or the surroundings, as in a play or a story.
   1913 Webster
   Shift the scene for half an hour;
   Time and place are in thy power.
   Swift.
   
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

2.       
   Shift, v. i.
   To divide; to distribute. [Obs.]
   1913 Webster
   Some this, some that, as that him liketh shift.
   Chaucer.
   
   1913 Webster
   To make a change or changes; to change position; to move; to veer; to substitute one thing for another; -- used in the various senses of the transitive verb.
   1913 Webster
   The sixth age shifts
   Into the lean and slippered pantaloon.
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat.
   Sir W. Scott.
   
   1913 Webster
   To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to contrive; to manage.
   1913 Webster
   Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave their companions to shift as well as they can.
   L'Estrange.
   
   1913 Webster
   To practice indirect or evasive methods.
   1913 Webster
   All those schoolmen, though they were exceeding witty, yet better teach all their followers to shift, than to resolve by their distinctions.
   Sir W. Raleigh.
   
   1913 Webster
   (Naut.) To slip to one side of a ship, so as to destroy the equilibrum; -- said of ballast or cargo; as, the cargo shifted.
   1913 Webster
         
       

3.       
   Shift , n. [Cf. Icel. skipti. See Shift, v. t.]
   The act of shifting. Specifically: (a) The act of putting one thing in the place of another, or of changing the place of a thing; change; substitution.
   1913 Webster
   My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air.
   Sir H. Wotton.
   
   1913 Webster
   (b) A turning from one thing to another; hence, an expedient tried in difficulty; often, an evasion; a trick; a fraud. “Reduced to pitiable shifts.” 
   Macaulay.
   
   1913 Webster
   I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away.
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   Little souls on little shifts rely.
   Dryden.
   
   1913 Webster
   Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's under-garment; a chemise.
   1913 Webster
   The change of one set of workmen for another; hence, a spell, or turn, of work; also, a set of workmen who work in turn with other sets; as, a night shift.
   1913 Webster
   In building, the extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
   1913 Webster
   (Mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
   1913 Webster
   (Mus.) A change of the position of the hand on the finger board, in playing the violin.
   1913 Webster
    
   To make shift, to contrive or manage in an exigency. “I shall make shift to go without him.” 
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   [They] made a shift to keep their own in Ireland.
   Milton.
   
   1913 Webster