Shift
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
shift¹
- /ˈʃɪft/
- [ˈʃʰɪft]
Rhymes with -ɪft
Where it comes from
The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-West Germanic *skiftijan, from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), Low German schichten (“to stack, layer”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.
The noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with Dutch schift (“split, fissure”), German Schicht (“layer, shift”).
noun shifts
- A movement to do something, a beginning.
- An act of shifting; a slight movement or change. There was a shift in the political atmosphere.
- A share, a portion assigned on division.
- A type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, a slip or chemise. Just last week she bought a new shift at the market.
- A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.
- 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.
- The gear mechanism in a motor vehicle. Does it come with a stick-shift?
- Alternative letter-case form of Shift (“a modifier button of computer keyboards”).Shift If you press shift-P, the preview display will change.
- A control code or character used to change between different character sets.
- An instance of the use of such a code or character.
- A bit shift.
- An infield shift. Teams often use a shift against this lefty.
- The act of kissing passionately. 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.
- A contrivance, a device to try when other methods fail. 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. 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
- The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
- A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
- A mutation in which the DNA or RNA from two different sources (such as viruses or bacteria) combine. 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.
- A period of time in which one's consciousness resides in another reality, usually achieved through meditation or other means.
- be done; ruined
verb shifts · shifting · shifted
- To move from one place to another; to redistribute. We'll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office.
- To change in form or character; switch. As a result, I shifted my approach to focus on group-generated activities and broadened the chronological time frame.
- To change position; to move. She shifted slightly in her seat.
- To change residence; to leave and live elsewhere. We are shifting to America next month.
- To change (clothes, especially underwear); to change the clothes of. '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. As it were, to ride day and night; and […] not to have patience to shift me.
- To change gears (in an automobile). 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. Shifting 1001 to the left yields 10010; shifting it right yields 100.
- To remove (the first value from an array).
- To dispose of, remove. How can I shift a grass stain?
- To hurry; to move quickly. If you shift, you might make the 2:19.
- To engage in sexual petting with. 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. You need to learn to shift for yourself.
- To practice indirect or evasive methods; to contrive. 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.
- To use meditation or other means to change the reality that one's consciousness resides in. I finally shifted to Hogwarts last night!
- To steal or kidnap.
- To crouch in game, especially if the shift key is pressed to initiate crouching.
Shift²
Where it comes from
From shift.
noun Shifts · shift
- A modifier key whose main function is shifting between two or more functions of any of certain other keys (usually by pressing Shift and the other button simultaneously).
