▪ I. shift, n.
(ʃɪft)
Forms: 3 scift, 4–5 (6–7 Sc.) schift, 5–6 shyft, 5–7 shifte, 6 shyfte, schyfte (schiffte, sheft, Sc. scheift), 6– shift.
[ME. schift, related to shift v. Cf. ON. skipti neut., division, exchange (see skift n.1), MSw. skipt fem., division of property, skipte neut. (? and fem.) division, portion, change (mod.Sw. skift neut., spell of work, relay of workmen, skifte neut., division of property, change, rotation of crops, spell of work, relay of workmen), NFris. skeft division, stratum, skaft one of successive parties of workmen.
Many of these senses belong also to MHG., MLG. schicht(e, mod.G. schicht division of property, stratum, layer, one of several sets of persons or things, period of working time (in mining), one of several successive parties of miners working together for a fixed period of hours. It seems probable that the Ger. word is identical with the Eng. and Scandinavian words, the substitution of (xt) for (ft) being found in other words introduced into standard German from LG. (cf. e.g. G. sacht = Eng. soft).]
I. † 1. a. A movement to do something, a beginning.
[The form scift, however, may possibly represent skift n.1, which is recorded from c 1400.]
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10480 And þus to prai sco gaf a scift. |
† b. at one shift: at one time.
Obs. [
Cf. Icel. eitt skipti once (Vigf.).]
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. 26 The faurtend day at a schift Sal bathe brin bathe erthe and lift. |
II. † 2. A share, a portion assigned on division.
Obs. [
Cf. MSw.
skipt, G.
schicht (Law) ‘divisio bonorum’.]
| 1461 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 301 The mesuring of salte and corne that sholde long to the shifte of the communes. 1574 Ibid. 334 The Maior hath but an Aldermans shift saving onely of every shippe of wyne. 1627 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Pittance to help make vpp on of our Shiftes of monye xij d. |
III. 3. a. An expedient, an ingenious device for effecting some purpose.
| 1530 Palsgr. 267/1 Schyfte chevesaunce, cheuesance. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Cambridge iv, I sought a shift their tenures to vndo. 1595 Shakes. John iv. iii. 7 Ile finde a thousand shifts to get away. 1624 Quarles Sion's Sonn. viii. 5 My Dove, whom daily dangers teach new shifts. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 44 ¶8 The innumerable Shifts that small Wits put in practice to raise a Laugh. 1725 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. (1732) I. iii. 28 The brickmakers all about London do mix sea-coal-ashes..with their clay..and by that shift save eight chaldron of coals out of eleven. 1842 J. Aiton Dom. Econ. (1857) 118 A single man..can at any time try all the shifts, from taking land down to breaking stones within the high walls of the county jail. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage xix. 373 Other anecdotes illustrate the thousand shifts and devices of which Hannibal was a master. |
b. Available means of effecting an end. Often in phrase
(to have) no other shift.
Obs. exc. dial.| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccxiv. 293 We knowe all the shyfte in the countre [nous scauons tous les refuges] and so do nat they. c 1600 ? Montgomerie Banks Helicon 105, I have no schift bot to resing All power into hir handis. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Ivstine xiii. 60 Which pretense when Eumenes had espied, he had no other shift, but to try the matter against the traitor by the sword. 1639 Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 74 This old man having no more shift to veile what he had hitherto endeavoured to conceale, declared unto his children that she was his wife. |
† c. An entertaining or humorous device; a jest.
Obs.| 1575 Gascoigne Kenelw. Castle ii. iv. Wks. 1910 II. 117 Delight, and pleasures gallant shifts Haue fed your minde with many a Princely sport. 1579 Lyly Euphues, Anat. W. 82 Me thinkes that you smile at some pleasaunt shift. 1626 (title) The first and best parts of Scoggin's Iests: full of witty Mirth and pleasant Shifts. |
d. Faculty of contrivance, resourcefulness.
rare.
Cf. shiftless.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 106 And in Menander also..the housbandes reuile their wiues, calling theim, bliteas, of so small shifte or helpe, that thei wer as good to haue wiues of beetes. 1731–8 Swift Pol. Conversat. 92 Hang them, say I, that has no Shift. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xv. v. (1872) VI. 19 Friedrich's budget is a sore problem upon him; needing endless shift and ingenuity. |
† e. Manner of livelihood.
to make an honest shift, to gain one's living honestly.
Sc. Obs.| 1572 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 133 Except thay have of thair awin, or sum honest and lauchfull schift quhairupoun to leif. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 116 The ȝoungest ar put to sum honest schift. 1798 D. Crawford Poems 57 (E.D.D.) Will ye compare me to a rogue, I always mak ane honest shift. |
4. a. A fraudulent or evasive device, a stratagem; a piece of sophistry, an evasion, subterfuge.
| 1545 Act 37 Hen. VIII, c. 9 §1 Concerninge Usury shiftes corrupt bargaynes and chevysaunces. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 24 If the Papistes haue any shame, let them no more vse this shift [Fr. qu'ils n'vsent plus d'oresenauant de ces subterfuges] to say that images are lay mennes bokes. c 1596 Sir T. More (Malone Soc.) 757, I conceiue your Lordship, and haue learnde your shift so well, that I must needes be apprehensiue. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. xi. 63 Now I must..dodge And palter in the shifts of lownes, who With halfe the bulke o' th' world plaid as I pleas'd, Making, and marring Fortunes. 1635 R. N. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. ii. 133 This the Queene of Scots delegates rejected as a frivolous shift. 1681 Trial of S. Colledge 104 He is a man lives by his Shifts. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 207 How many subsist upon begging, borrowing, and other shifts. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 37 A nobleman, who was not to be put off with ministerial shifts. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. xii. (1869) 253 Their whole life is a succession of shifts, excuses, and expedients. 1870 Bryant Iliad viii. 116 Ulysses, man of subtle shifts,..whither dost thou flee? |
† b. alliterative phrases.
Obs.| 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man (1631) 111 Those goods that are gotten by shift, are for the most part lost with shame. 1600 A. Bourcher in R. Edwards Parad. Dainty Dev. C iv b, Got with shifts are spent with shame. 1601 Munday Downf. Earl Huntington ii. D 3 b, You..as yee liu'd by shifts, shall die with shame. |
5. a. An expedient necessitated by stress of circumstances; a forced measure.
| 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. ii. §102 Cottington..being Chancellor of the Exchequer..had his hand in many hard shifts for money. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 168 Such dammage, or shifts, are all Common-wealths forced to. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 141 ¶9 It were endless to recount the shifts to which I have been reduced. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 20 Being reduced to very extraordinary shifts for supplying the place of bread. 1823 Scott Peveril xlv, Many of them had shared the wants, and shifts, and frolics of his exile. 1858 J. G. Holland Titcomb's Lett. i. 17 That pride of personal independence..that resorts to desperate shifts rather than incur an obligation. |
† b. for (a) shift: as a makeshift; for want of something better.
Obs.| 1523 Hen. VIII in St. Papers (1836) IV. 47 We suppose that many of your souldeours shalbe founden hable to stande in stede of gunners, metely well for a shyfte. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 80 Ha, no, no faith, thou singst well enough for a shift. 1683 in Phil. Trans. (1693) XVII. 629 For a shift, common or Sterling Silver will serve the turn. |
c. by the shift: by way of makeshift; ‘at a pinch’ (
Eng. Dial. Dict.). So
on a shift. Now
dial.| 1665 Pepys Diary 16 Nov., I..had a good bedd by the shift, of Wyndham's. 1842 J. Aiton Dom. Econ. (1857) 127 Dinners made up on a shift of bread and cheese, and the like, are always the most expensive. 1897 Leeds Mercury Suppl. 29 May (E.D.D.), Ah can eyt a pund bi t'shift. |
d. one's (or the) last (or † utter) shift: the last resource.
to be at († under) one's last shift(s: to be at the last extremity, in the greatest difficulty; so to
put, drive, reduce, etc. to the last shifts.
| a 1604 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 109 You see me..now extremely driven to my utter shifts. 1638 Hamilton Papers (Camden) 15 The consideration of thes dangers, and not beeing abill longer to satisfie them with words draufe me to my last shifts. 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 276 Whoever makes use of Chalk for a Dressing, I think, is under the last Shift. 1796 Nelson 18 July in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 216 They are at their last shifts. |
e. to put or drive (one) to one's shifts,
to put or drive to a (or † the) shift or shifts (often with
adj. as
hard,
miserable, etc.): to bring to extremity.
† to leave (a person) to his shifts: to leave him to help himself.
| 1553 Brende Q. Curtius i. B iv b, He was driuen to so narrowe shifte, that to furnishe hym selfe of money, he became a Pyrat. 1581 W. S. Compend. 15 You draue him to his shiftes. 1589 R. Robinson Golden Mirr. (1851) 18 Except that Tullie were thy name, Thy pen were put to shiftes. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 195 These knightes..were much driven to their shiftes, to get money for that journey. 1636 Earl of Manchester Contempl. Mortis 91 Weake faith lookes for means, and is put to shifts when she sees them fail. 1663 Cowley Ess., Of Solitude ¶3 (1906) 393 It is a deplorable condition, this, and drives a man sometimes to pittiful shifts in seeking how to avoid Himself. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasmus on Folly 125 They are reduc'd to hard shifts, must grapple with poverty [etc.]. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 328 He knew this to be the Elephant, that had put him so hard to his shifts. a 1715 Burnet Own Time ii. (1897) I. 403 Many..who were put to hard shifts to live. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 72 The gunner being thus driven to his shifts, made down to the shore. 1775 Sheridan Rivals v. i, The dear delicious shifts I used to be put to, to gain half a minute's conversation. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs I. 173 Two or three bad harvests, a murrain, or a blight, for example might put you sadly to your shifts. 1842 G. S. Faber Prov. Lett. (1844) I. 110 When gentlemen resort to such arguments, it shows that they must be sorely put to their shifts. 1849 Ainsworth's Mag. XVI. 524 A man likely to be put to the shift in these days would be a fool indeed to marry without it [money]. 1856 Macaulay Biog., Goldsm. (1860) 60 He was still often reduced to pitiable shifts. 1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay i, He was put to strange shifts to make out a living. |
6. to make (a) shift.
a. To make efforts, bestir oneself, try all means. Now
dial. Also
† to make busy shift,
good shift,
hard shift.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. xiii. 285 Bot yit I must make better shyft, And it be right. c 1535 Ld. J. Butler in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 51 But God willing I woll make bessye shifte to send the said mony in haste unto him. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent 291 They made eache man the best shift for himselfe, that they could. 1600 Holland Livy ii. x. 50 Euerie man made shift for himselfe. 1675 Hobbes Odyssey xvii. 411 And to come hither thence, I made hard shift. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede ii, I'd make a shift, and fend indoor and out, to give you more liberty. 1882 Stevenson Mem. & Portr. xi. (1887) 175 What they have endured unbroken, we also..will make a shift to bear. |
b. To attain one's end by contrivance or effort; to succeed; to manage
to do something.
† to make shift of: to manage to secure (some result).
| 1504 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 184, I have sent it you with John Walker at this tyme; the which I shall shew you how I mayd schift of, at your comminge. 1594 Kyd Cornelia i. 87 A Ship vnrig'd Can make no shift to combat with the Sea. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl F 1, If I could meete my enemies one by one thus, I might make pretty shift with 'em in time. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. ix. 128 The Horse..made the best shift of all. 1895 ‘Q.’ (Quiller-Couch) Wandering Heath 8 He made shift pretty well till he got to Lowland, and then had to drop upon his hands and knees and crawl. |
c. To succeed with difficulty, to manage with effort
to do something. So
† to make a hard shift.
| 1538 in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 194 Thei war not abill to make schiffte to paye for my costis. 1627–8 Laud Diary 5 Feb.–17 Mar., I made a shift to go and christen my Lord Duke's son. 1639 Fuller Holy War iv. iii. (1640) 171 Sixty yeares almost did the Latines make a hard shift to hold Constantinople. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. §104 Most of the Foot made a shift to conceal themselves. 1711 Budgell Spect. No. 77 ¶5, I..can make a shift to command my Attention at a Puppet-Show or an Opera. 1752 Fielding Amelia iv. ii, Booth made a shift to support his lovely burden. 1832 H. Martineau Ireland i. 13 Every year less and less came up, and that which did make a shift to grow yielded less and less meal. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xi, When she first came here she could speak no English; now she can make shift to talk it a little. |
d. To do one's best
with (inferior means), to be content
with, put up
with.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 32 The bread is very drye..but the common people remediyng that with Larde or Oyle, doo make a shift with it as wel as they can. 1629 B. Jonson New Inn ii. i, Thou must make shift with it; pride feels no pain. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 33 When they have no Spoons, they make an easie shift without them. 1680 Moxon Mech. Exerc. xi. 202 Turners seldom use them, but make shift with either of the other [tools]. 1733 Swift Let to Mrs. Cæsar 30 July, I cannot make shift nor bear fatigue as I used to do. 1770 Luckombe Hist. Printing 319 The Press-Stone should be marble, though sometimes Master Printers make shift with purbeck. 1842 J. H. Newman Paroch. Serm. V. 71 Act then as persons who are in a dwelling not their own;..who accordingly, make shift and put up with any thing that comes to hand. 1885 Bookseller July 650/2 We cannot afford to employ..efficient assistants but have to make shift with cheap labour. |
IV. Change, substitution, succession.
† 7. Change or substitution of one thing for another of the same kind.
Obs.| 1580 Tusser Husb. (1878) 86 Poore cattle craue some shift to haue. 1625 Wotton Let. to N. Pey in L. P. Smith Life & Lett. (1907) II. 288 My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air. |
† 8. a. A plurality of things of the same kind that are or may be used successively.
Obs.| 1562 W. Bullein Bulwarke, Bk. Simples (1579) 30 Let bothe Pease and Beanes bee..tenderly sodden in shifte of waters, before you doe eate theim. 1567–9 Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 633 It is fit for a Pope to haue shift of mindes. 1592 Greene Groatsw. Wit (1874) 25 He had shift of lodgings, where in euery place his Hostesse writ vp the wofull remembrance of him. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. ii. vi, He hath shift of names, sir: some call him Apple John and some Signior Whiffe. 1611 Second Maiden's Tragedy 936 (Malone Soc.) She has her shifte of frendes. |
† b. A set or suit (of sails, scenes).
Obs.| 1592 in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 845 Being prouided onely of one shift of sailes all worne. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 17 A shift of sayles. 1754 A. Drummond Trav. i. 15 They had three or four shifts of very good scenes. |
9. a. Change (of clothing);
concr. one of several suits of clothing, or of several garments of the same kind belonging to one person.
Obs. exc. dial.| c 1570 W. Wager The Longer thou livest 1104 (Brandl) Of rayment he shall haue shiftes twentie. 1600 G. Best in Hakluyt Voy. III. 83 Hee that had fiue or sixe shifts of apparell had scarce one drie threed to his backe. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes 13 Some passengers of the ship, who had no great store of linnen for shift, desired leave to go ashoare. 1833 Sel. Comm. Cinque-port Pilots 11 The men have not a shift of clothes. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss. |
† b. A player's dressing-room in a theatre.
| 1667 Pepys Diary 5 Oct., She took us up..to the women's shift, where Nell was dressing herself. a 1704 T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com., Play-Ho. Wks. 1709 III. i. 42 If She goes to her Shift, 'tis Ten to One but he follows her. |
10. a. A body-garment of linen, cotton, or the like; in early use applied indifferently to men's and women's underclothing; subsequently, a woman's ‘smock’ or chemise. Now chiefly
N. Amer. In the 17th c.
smock began to be displaced by
shift as a more ‘delicate’ expression; in the 19th c. the latter, from the same motive, gave place to
chemise.
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. i, I haue knowne some of them, that haue..at length bene glad for a shift (though no cleane shift) to lye a whole winter in halfe a sheete. 1648 Winyard Midsummer-Moon 4 Is the University Pim'd, and therefore must change shifts, or are men turnd out..for being scabby? 1691 D'Emilianne's Frauds Rom. Monks 96 They are stript stark Naked in another [room], without suffering them so much as to keep on their Shifts. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 367 ¶5 A Lady's Shift may be metamorphosed into Billet-doux. 1756 F. Brooke Old Maid No. 34. 204 But remember that Julia and Rosara..fail not to bring with them checqu'd shifts to appear in at church. 1828 Miss Mitford Village III. 114 Work was lost—even the new shifts of the Vicar's lady. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia x, A..negress dressed in true negro fashion, in a snow-white cotton shift, a scarlet cotton petticoat, and a bright yellow turban. 1890 Swinburne Stud. Prose & Poetry (1894) 216 A handsome girl, who was swimming, clothed with a white shift and a short petticoat. 1927 M. de la Roche Jalna xix. 250 He pictured her in a fine embroidered shift, curled softly beneath the silk eiderdown. 1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris 177 The flowers you know are all there, in their shifts and with their hair combed out for the night. 1936 M. de la Roche Whiteoak Harvest xxii. 301 She is such a slack creature that I dare say the poor child doesn't own a clean shift. |
b. A straight loose dress.
| 1957 M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 293/1 Shift,..loose dress hanging straight from shoulders, with fulness closely belted at waistline. 1965 H. L. Brockman Theory of Fashion Design v. 95/2 The shift automatically lengthens the figure at the expense of widening it at the waistline. 1975 D. Lodge Changing Places v. 177 Girls in kaftans, saris, skinny sweaters, bloomers, shifts, muu-muus. |
11. Each of the successive crops in a course of rotation.
| 1715 Pennecuik Wks. (1815) 92 (E.D.D.) The adoption in this country of the common course of four shifts, before pasture. 1787 W. H. Marshall Norfolk (1795) I. 131 An East Norfolk farmer divides his farm into what he calls ‘six shifts’, to receive his principal crops in rotation. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. Add. 19 By the frequent ploughings given to the turnip break or shift, the land is made perfectly clean. 1880 C. M. Mason Forty Shires 222 Sometimes a four-shift, sometimes a five-shift rotation is employed. |
12. a. A relay or change of workmen or
† of horses.
| 1708 J. C. Compleat Collier (1845) 33 [The] Pit will require..4 shifts of Horses..and indeed you shou'd have a spare Shift, or two Horses more ready. 1812 J. Hodgson in Raine Mem. (1857) I. 97 Two shifts or sets of men were constantly employed. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxix. 9 Working day and night with separate shifts of workmen. 1884 Manch. Exam. 22 Feb. 5/2 He would have in all mines which are worked on the double-shift system a fresh examination of the workings..before the second shift goes down. 1912 Sphere 28 Dec. 326/1 The night shifts receive so much higher pay for their labour. |
b. The length of time during which such a set of men work.
| 1809 T. Donaldson Poems 132 Like miners, faith, we'll try a shift, An' work by turns. 1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 329 It is usual..to divide the men into two classes, one class to relieve the other every 12 hours: these periods are called shifts. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms, Northumb. & Durh. 47 The payment for off-hand work.., is 3s. per shift of 8 hours. 1862 Smiles Engineers III. 25 They worked together for about two years, by twelve-hour shifts. 1913 Times 14 May 8/1 An eight hours day, with a standard rate of 5s. a shift. |
| transf. 1860 Smiles Self Help i. 17 These men..have often, during the busy season of Parliament, worked ‘double shift’, almost day and night. |
c. A quantity (of ore) removed at a time.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 752 The richness of the ore varies from 2 to 20 bings of galena per shift of ore; the shift corresponding to 8 waggons load. |
13. A change (of wind).
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. vii. xxxi. (1636) 702 At every shift of winde. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. ii. 144 Well experienced in Judgment, in estimating the Ship's Way in her Course upon every shift of Wind. 1782 Ann. Reg. 91 The season was far advanced for military operations, the shift of the monsoon being at hand. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 288 The Dundee of London..was suddenly stopped by a shift of wind. 1876 R. H. Scott Weather Charts 72 In every case it will be seen that the shift from 1 to 3 is veering, and from 1{p} to 3{p} is backing, whatever the first direction of the wind may have been. |
V. Change of position, removal.
14. a. A shifting, removal; a change of position or attitude;
dial. a change of residence or employment.
to get a shift on (
colloq.), to get a move on (see
move n. 6).
| 1831 A. Sedgwick in Trans. Geol. Soc. (1836) Ser. ii. IV. 53 If there be any shift of position among the mineral masses in their strike across the valley, it must be of comparatively small extent. 1858 Glenny Everyday Bk. 233/2 Examine every plant as it comes in, to see if the drainage be clear, and whether it wants a shift. 1867 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 150 A suffering which runs always in one groove, without relief or shift. 1871 Carlyle in Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 194 A small furnished house should be rented, and a shift made thither. 1906 [see pole v.1 8]. 1977 Times Educ. Suppl. 21 Oct. 9/2 We could have started certainly a year earlier, even two years earlier if we had got a shift on. |
b. in immaterial sense,
e.g. a shifting or transfer of responsibility, etc.
| 1826 E. Irving Babylon v. II. 31 There can be no shift in policy or in power, much less a revolution in them,..with-out a terrible struggle. 1844 Min. Evid. Sel. Comm. Commons Inclosure 27 Many of these commonable meadows have their own peculiar customs as to the shift of the severalty ownership. |
c. Physics. A displacement of a spectral line from the expected position or from some reference position; hence, a change of an energy level in an atom, molecule, etc.;
chemical shift, in nuclear magnetic resonance or Mössbauer spectroscopy, the position of a resonance in the spectrum measured relative to some standard signal, the separation being characteristic of the chemical environment of the resonating nucleus. See also
red shift.
| 1884 Phil. Mag. XVIII. 161 A shift of the lines towards the more refrangible side of the spectrum. 1897 Astrophysical Jrnl. V. 210 Here is certainly a vera causa for some shift towards the red in molecules causing light. 1932 Physical Rev. XLII. 350 The direction of the shift is again such that Hg204 has the highest energy. 1945 R. A. Sawyer Exper. Spectroscopy v. 118 Changes in temperature and pressure may lead to serious difficulties in prism spectrographs through broadening and shifts of spectral lines. 1952 Physical Rev. LXXXVIII. 1070/1 A shift in the nuclear resonance, known as the chemical shift, is due to the effects of diamagnetism and induced paramagnetism in a molecule. 1961 A. D. Thackeray Astron. Spectroscopy xiii. 186 Interpreted as a radial velocity this shift implies that the nebula in question is running away from us at a speed of slightly over 60,000 km/sec. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. VIII. 600a/1 Chemists have become interested in using the Mössbauer effect because of the isomer shift (also called isomeric or chemical shift); this results from the interaction of the electron density..at the nucleus with the nuclear charge. 1970 G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. viii. 154 Since the perturbing states of opposite parity lie a long way away,..one expects the Stark shift of the ground state to be small. 1978 P. W. Atkins Physical Chem. xix. 625 The two methylene protons are in a different part of the molecule; they therefore have a different chemical shift, and come into resonance at another magnetic field. |
d. Philol. A phonetic change. See also
accent-shift,
consonant-shift,
sound-shift,
stress-shift,
vowel-shift, under the first elements.
| [1875 Whitney Life Lang. iv. 54 There has been no general shift of the place of the accent as compared with Latin.] 1894 O. F. Emerson Hist. Eng. Lang. xiv. 241 §271 The shift from voiceless to voiced in certain positions has taken place since Teutonic times. 1909 O. Jespersen Mod. Eng. Gram. (1949) I. viii. 231 In most cases the spelling had become fixed before the shift, which..is one of the chief reasons of the divergence between spelling and sound in English... The shift may be represented graphically. 1934 Priebsch & Collinson German Lang. ii. i. 86 A clean cut was made between those dialects which underwent the shift and those which remained unaffected. Ibid. 88 The shift from stop to spirant was carried out over the whole High German area. |
e. A change of gear in a motor vehicle.
N. Amer.| 1915 V. W. Pagé Questions & Answers (rev. ed.) xxvii. 446 The clutch must be disengaged before a shift can be made. 1947 R. F. Kuns in Kuns & Plumridge Automotive Fundamentals: Chassis & Power Transmission 164 The overdrive shift is made automatically, by simply lifting the foot from the accelerator for about 1½ seconds. |
f. Chem. A migration of an atom or group, or of electrons, from one point in a molecule to another, or
occas. between molecules, in a chemical reaction.
| 1932 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. LIV. 3278 The shift of the electron pair includes the atom or group which it holds. 1947 Ibid. LXIX. 290/2 On the other hand, the hydrogen atom with its pair of electrons might be transferred by an inter rather than an intra molecular shift. 1953 C. K. Ingold Structure & Mechanism in Org. Chem. ix. 482 Other rearrangements involve only the shift of a methyl group to an adjoining position. 1968 R. O. C. Norman Princ. Org. Synthesis xiv. 435 A typical example of a hydride shift occurs in the reaction of a primary aliphatic amine with nitrous acid; e.g. n-propylamine gives iso⁓propanol, together with propylene, and only a trace of n-propanol. 1975 C. J. Collins in R. F. Brown Org. Chem. xvi. 535b Prior to our explanation it was commonly held that all 1,2-shifts—for example, of hydrogen, alkyl, or aryl during Wagner–Meerwein, pinacol, Demjanov rearrangements and the like—took place with inversion of configuration at the migration terminus. |
g. Computers. The movement of the digits of a word in a register one or more places to left or right, equivalent to multiplying or dividing the corresponding number by a power of whatever number is the base.
| 1946 Ann. Computation Lab. Harvard Univ. I. 73 The first molding is..used for reset and the second to read out the tens digit of the amount of shift in conjunction with the proper molding of the first column... The shift is counted to the right. 1966 IFIP–ICC Vocab. of Information Processing 70 Digits shifted beyond the end of the word or register may simply be dropped, or in a cyclic shift (or end-around shift) they may be returned to the opposite end of the word or register in a circular fashion. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing v. 80 Sometimes it is necessary to analyze the individual characters of a word. The computer can do this by means of shift instructions. These are instructions for left shift and right shift. |
15. a. Mus. In violin-playing, a change of the position of the hand on the finger-board.
When the first or ordinary position is quitted, the player is said to be ‘on the shift’; the second position is called the ‘half shift’, the third the ‘whole shift’, and the fourth the ‘double shift’. (Grove
Dict. Mus. s.v.)
| 1771 Burney tr. Tartini in G. Hart Violin (1875) 342 The taking a Violin part..and playing it upon the half-shift, that is, with the first finger upon G on the first string, and constantly keeping upon this shift. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Let. x, I..skipped with flying fingers, like Timotheus, from shift to shift. 1884 Hoe Dict. Fiddle. |
b. Pianoforte. The mechanism for or act of shifting the keyboard action by means of the soft pedal.
| 1896 A. J. Hipkins Pianoforte 41 Unless these are directly opposite the strings by a decided shift or return, a snarling quality of tone will be heard. Ibid. Up to about 1830 there was a further shift permissible to one string only, the Una Corda of Beethoven. 1944 W. Apel Harvard Dict. Mus. 778/2 Beethoven..not only calls for a gradation in three steps..but even for a gradual execution of the shift: poco a poco due corde. |
16. Ship-building. (See
quots.)
| 1805 Shipwright's Vade-M. 131 Shift, a term applied to disposing the butts of the planks, &c. so that they may over launch each other without reducing the length... The planks of the bottom, in British-built ships of war, have a six-feet shift with three planks between each butt... In the bottoms of merchant ships they have a six-feet shift with only two planks between each butt. Ibid. 234 The scarphs give shift to the scarphs of the keel and fasten thereto with treenails. c 1840 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XX. 275/2 Shift. This, in its general sense, refers to a certain arrangement among the component parts of a ship. Thus we speak of a shift of plank, a shift of dead-wood, meaning thereby the disposition of the buts of the timber or plank, both with respect to strength and economy. In a more limited sense, ‘shift’ means the distance apart of two neighbouring buts or scarphs. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 154 String, one or two planks.., giving shift to the scarphs of the sheer-strake. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1889 Welch Text Bk. Naval Archit. viii. 103 The proper shift of the butts [of the plates] is a question of importance. |
17. Mining. A slight ‘fault’ or dislocation in a seam or stratum.
| 1802 Playfair Hutton. Theory 48 Of this nature are the slips or shifts, that so often perplex the miner in his subterraneous journey. 1830 Carlyle Richter again Misc. 1840 II. 324 What miners call a shift or trouble occurred in it. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 418 Along the line of this shift, or ‘fault’ as it would be termed technically by miners, the walls were found to adhere firmly to each other. 1909 Q. Rev. Apr. 490 The shift or throw as in the Irwell Valley fault near Manchester. |
18. Something which effects a shift.
a. A mechanism for changing gear in a motor vehicle; a gear-lever.
Cf. gear-shift s.v. gear n. IV.
N. Amer.| 1914 Automobile 9 Apr. 771/2 (Advt.), New electric shift. 1926 F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby vii. 144 ‘Shall we all go in my car?’ suggested Gatsby... ‘Is it standard shift?’ demanded Tom. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 26/1 (Advt.), Mercury Parklane Marauder{ddd}radio, bucket seats, floor shift. 1978 J. Irving World according to Garp xii. 224 The gear knob of the Volvo's stick shift came off in her hand. |
b. = shift key, sense 20 below.
| 1919 H. Etheridge Dict. Typewriting 208 It is usual to provide duplicate keys on each side of the keyboard, so that the shift may be operated with either hand. 1936 A. Dvorak et al. Typewriting Behavior x. 260 Really you strike the shift just a tiny fraction of a second before you strike the capital letter. 1957 A. C. Lloyd et al. Gregg Typewriting for Colleges 10 A-finger reaches over, to Shift. |
c. = shift code, sense 20 below.
| 1957 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 886/2 With such a code [as the Baudot code] it is possible to obtain 32 different combinations, 26 of which are assigned to letters of the alphabet, leaving 1 for the idle condition, and 5 for functions such as space, figure shift, letter shift, etc. 1972 Computers & Humanities VI. 149 The tape punch would consequently have fewer possibilities than the card punch, if this number of 44 were not doubled by a shift giving an extra punch code to change from lower to upper case, or from upper to lower case. 1980 L. Moore Foundations Programming with Pascal ii. 38 The 5-bit code commonly used by Creed teleprinters had two shift-codes, a ‘letter shift’ and a ‘figure shift’. Each of the remaining thirty codes was mapped to two characters, one belonging to the ‘letter’ set and the other to the ‘figure’ set. |
19. Telegr. and
Computers. A change from one set of characters to another; also, a set of characters indicated by any particular shift code.
| 1913 H. W. Pendry Baudôt Printing Telegraph System 2 He adapts therein several elements of the earlier Hughes system—namely, the type-wheel and printing arrangement as well as a similar figure shift device. 1928 A. Williams Telegr. & Teleph. ii. 33 The possible number of permutations is thirty-one, but each of these can be made to signify either of two characters by a ‘shift’ at the receiving end corresponding to the shift key of an ordinary typewriter. 1960 M. G. Say et al. Analogue & Digital Computers ix. 265 Such an arrangement is very appropriate in telegraphy, where changes from one shift to the other are not common. 1967 D. G. Hays Introd. Computational Linguistics iv. 75 Some of the shifts are capitalization, boldface, superscript, and large. Most alphabets require shifts and diacritics. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing ii. 41 We say that the characters are in two shifts, a letter shift and digit shift, in the same way as the characters on a typewriter are in two shifts or cases. 1971 T. C. Collocott Dict. Sci. & Technol. 1064/1 In teleprinters, one shift is capital letters, the other figures and special signs. |
VI. 20. attrib. and
Comb.:
shift-boss,
shift-man,
shift-work,
shift-worker,
shift-working (sense 12);
shift-sleeve,
shift-strap (sense 10);
† shift-got adj. (sense 4);
shiftmaker (sense 6);
shift character,
code,
Telegr. and
Computers, a character in a code that indicates that subsequent characters are to be interpreted in terms of a different fount or coding scheme;
shift dress = sense 10 b;
shift-key, a key for adjusting the mechanism in a typewriter when characters in a different position on the keys, such as capitals, are to be used;
shift-lever N. Amer., a gear-lever in a motor vehicle;
shift-lock, a device for holding the shift-key of a typewriter continuously depressed; also
attrib.;
shift register Computers, a register specifically intended for subjecting data to a shift (sense 14 g above);
shift-round colloq., reallocation of positions, a move to another position;
shift-sign Phonetics (see
quot. 1939);
shiftsman (see
quot. 1921);
shift-stick colloq., a gear-lever in a motor vehicle;
shift-terminator Computers, a character introduced into a string of text to cancel the effect of a preceding shift code;
shift valve, a valve that moves to produce automatic gear-changes in a motor vehicle.
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 166 Foremen, per day..*Shift-bosses, per day. 1881 ― Mining Gloss., Shift-boss, the foreman in charge of a shift of men. |
| 1967 D. G. Hays Introd. Computational Linguistics iv. 75 But there are also 8 *shift characters, that influence the style or position of following graphic characters, and a shift terminator. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing ii. 41 After the letter shift character in the teleprinter code, all the following characters are interpreted as belonging to the letter case until there is a digit shift character, and vice versa. |
| 1967 D. G. Hays Introd. Computational Linguistics iv. 70 When we read a *shift code, we must remember what shift we are in until receiving another. 1972 Computers & Humanities VI. 149 We get 44 characters which may be preceded by either the upper-case or the lower-case shift code. 1980 Shift code [see sense 18 c above]. |
| 1966 *Shift-dress [see Ming n.2 c]. 1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird iii. 30, I was wearing a high-necked shift dress. |
| 1598 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. v. 39 The ding-thrift heyre, his *shift-got summe mispent, Comes drouping like a pennylesse penitent. |
| 1893 Manual of Typewriter i. 15 When the machine in use is one with a single keyboard,—that is to say, one with a *shift-key by the depression of which the upper-case characters are brought into play,—the shift-key should be governed by the little finger. 1940 M. Crooks Home Instruction Course in Touch Typewriting 56 You may like to note, whilst on the subject of the shift key, that there is an additional key—usually above one of the shift keys—called the ‘Shift Lock’. 1980 Daily Tel. 4 Nov. 13/4 Beth Porter as mehitabel (archie couldn't work the shift key) in the roach and the pussycat. |
| 1920 F. B. Scholl Automobile Owner's Guide 7 Place the *shift-lever into the first-speed slot and let up on the clutch pedal. 1973 R. Hayes Hungarian Game xlvii. 286 When the engine turned over he jammed the shift lever into reverse and pressed the accelerator. |
| 1899 J. Wardle Universal Typewriter Man. 21 *Shift lock.—When it is desired to write a large number of capital letters or signs, the Cylinder may be brought forward by means of the Lock Handle, and this action will fasten the Cylinder in that position. 1936 M. Crooks Bk. of Remington Typewriter iii. 27 The action of the shift lock key is quite simple. 1977 E. Mackay Typewriting Dict. 195 The shift key should be depressed by the little finger... If a whole word, heading, sentence, etc., is required in capital letters, the typist should depress the shift lock, which ‘locks’ the typewriter mechanism. |
| 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer lv, The shifts we were obliged to have recourse to were..amusing, to all but the *shiftmakers. |
| 1880 Daily News 10 Sept. 6/1 A survivor (..a *shiftman) gives the following narrative. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Shifter, Shift-man, a man who prepares the working places at night in a colliery for the men who come in at next shift. |
| 1950 W. W. Stifler High-Speed Computing Devices xiii. 299 A multiplier might be devised using the parallel adder and the *shift register... The product accumulator is twice the length of the operand registers and is also a shift register. 1975 Nature 27 Mar. 366/3 A bubble device consists simply of an assembly of a number of integrated circuits each of which carries magnetically activated tracks, that is, shift registers, along which are driven patterns of bubbles and gaps representing binary data. |
| 1940 J. Reith Diary 3 Apr. (1975) v. 244 Cabinet changes tonight..a weird *shift-round. a 1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 611 Thursday, the day of my shift-round. |
| 1939 B. Bloch in H. Kurath et al. Handbk. Linguistic Geogr. New England iv. 129 *Shift Signs..In order to avoid the necessity of using special symbols for the innumerable shades of sound intermediate between any two of the vowels shown in the diagram.., the phonetic alphabet of the Linguistic Atlas provides shift signs in the form of small arrowheads, which are placed after a vowel symbol to indicate varieties heard as articulated in a higher, a lower, a more advanced or a more retracted position than the vowel denoted by the unmodified letter. 1970 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1968 l. 5 Shift signs, {logicand} raised, {logicor} lowered,..are used to show modification of the vowels. |
| a 1700 Evelyn Diary June 1645, Their sleeves are made exceeding wide, under which their *shift sleeves as wide. 1711 Budgell Spect. No. 175 ¶2 She came in Shift-Sleeves, and dress'd at the Window. |
| 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §044 Shifter, shiftman, shiftsman..; general terms for labourers assisting repairers, timberers, etc., in building stoppings and clearing falls of stone. Ibid. §054 Shifter, shiftman, shiftsman,..works at night, when mine workers are absent, repairing road-ways, etc. 1924 Public Opinion 8 Feb. 127/1 Machinery shall be in charge of a competent shiftsman. |
| 1968 Autocar 14 Mar. 25/1 (Advt.), Aussies have better things to do with their arms than glue them to a *shift-stick. 1975 Publishers Weekly 17 Mar. 53/1 Even readers who don't know a shiftstick from a lollipop may find themselves caught up in the pace of this exciting inside-story of a veteran Indy 500 racing-car mechanic. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 222 A white petticoatbodice and taut *shiftstraps. |
| 1967 *Shift terminator [see shift character]. 1967 D. G. Hays Introd. Computational Linguistics iv. 76 If a whole sentence is in italics, the italic-shift character occurs just once in continuous mode, with a shift terminator at the end. |
| 1949 Automotive Industries 1 May 68/3 The mechanism contains other forms of valves designed to perform automatic control functions. Among these are:..*shift valve for direct drive, having a modulator valve at one end. 1955 W. H. Crouse Automotive Transmission & Power Trains vii. 223 The throttle pressure is applied to the spring end of the shift valve. 1970 AA Bk. Car 110/3 A system of brake bands and clutches selected by hydraulic shift valves. |
| 1708 J. C. Compleat Collier (1845) 36 It is most usual to agree with your Hewers of Coals or Miners, by the Score of Corves,..and not by the Day, or *Shift Work. 1888 W. E. Nicholson Gloss. Terms Coal Trade Northumbld. & Durh. (E.D.D.). |
| 1942 T. K. Djang Factory Inspection in Gt. Brit. vii. 142 The Home Secretary may require certain conditions for the safe-guarding of *shift workers. 1977 Rep. Comm. Future of Broadcasting (Cmnd. 6753) iii. 23 Shift workers wanting more entertainment during off-peak hours. |
| 1937 M. L. Yates Wages & Labour Conditions in Brit. Engineering iv. 54 *Shift-working was the subject of a separate Agreement between the Employers' Federation and the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1920. 1963 Times 6 May (Suppl. Electr. Power Brit.) p. iii/7 Because our tempo of life is geared to what we regard as orthodox hours, shift working is a burden and now disrupts family life. |
Add:
[IV.] [11.] b. A field or piece of land used in crop rotation. Chiefly
Sc.| 1838 W. Sewall Diary (1930) 197 Shucked out 5 rows of the 14 acre shift. 1936 C. Macdonald Echoes of Glen 91 The ‘shift’ was as little as one acre. 1969 Huntly Express 19 Sept. 2 He noticed something amiss near his tattie shift. 1980 D. K. Cameron Willie Gavin vi. 55 His rotation of crops in his humble shifts (the crofter's name for his small fields) adhered to the old order. |
[V.] [14.] [d.] Hence applied also to changes of grammatical function.
Cf. rankshift n.| 1929 I. A. Richards Pract. Crit. iii. i. 185 In conversation, perhaps, we get the clearest examples of these shifts of function, the normal verbal apparatus of one function being taken over by another. 1972 M. L. Samuels Linguistic Evol. iv. 67 Is it the prior shift of the old form to a new meaning..which creates the need for a new form? 1978 Language LIV. 119 This is evidenced in some syntactic rules, such as Dative Shift and Heavy-NP Shift. |
[h.] Amer. Football. A change of position made immediately before a snap by two or more players of the team in possession of the ball.
| 1901 W. Camp in Outing XXXIX. 219/2 The wing-shift had its novelty but it was fatal to the Indians in New Haven last season. 1910 Minneapolis Tribune 30 Oct. (Sporting section) 1/5 The Minnesota offense with the shift plays and the fake forward passes proved confusing to the Chicago defense. 1925 K. K. Rockne Coaching viii. 76 If they did not come to a distinct pause and started their charge all over again, I believe the line shift lost most of its value, as there is not much deception in a line shift. 1957 Encycl. Brit. IX. 478/2 In the first few years after World War I Notre Dame relied a good deal on the line shift, but Rockne dropped this when the rule makers removed all advantage from the shift by requiring a full halt between the final jump and the snap of the ball, robbing the play of its momentum. 1987 Touchdown Feb. 16/1 But the play was called back for one of pro football's less-frequent infringements, an illegal shift. |
▪ II. shift, v. (
ʃɪft)
Forms: 1
sciftan,
scyftan, 2
scyfton, 4
schiften,
scift,
schifte,
schyft,
schefte, 4–6
schyfte,
schift, 4–7
shifte, 5
scifte,
schyftyn, 5–6
shyfte, 6
shyft,
schyffte, 4–
shift.
pa. tense 1
scifte, 1–2
scyfte, 3
shiftede, 4
schift, 4–5
shifte, 5
schifte,
shift,
chefte, 6
shyfted, 6–
shifted.
pa. pple. 1
scift, 2
scyft, 2–3
iscift, 3
scift, 4
ischyft,
shift,
scheft,
schifted, 4–5
schift, 5
schufte,
shyfte,
scyfftyd,
schiffted, 6
scheftyd,
shyfted,
-yd, 6–
shifted.
[OE. sciftan wk. vb. corresponds to OFris. skifta to determine (WFris. skifte, skiftsje to separate, NFris. skeft to divide, change), MLG., LG., Du. schiften to divide, separate, MHG. (MG.) schihten (mod.G. schichten) to divide, classify, arrange in order, ON. skipta (whence skift v.1) to share, divide, change (Sw., Norw. skifta, Da. skifte):—OTeut. *skiftjan, f. Teut. root *skip- in ON. skipa to arrange, assign, etc.] I. To put in order, arrange.
† 1. trans. To appoint, ordain, arrange, assign, dispose in order.
Obs.| c 1000 Secular Laws Edgar §7 (Liebermann) 204/3 Scifte [v.rr. sceawie, sceapiᵹe] man of ðam ᵹemote ða ðe him toridan. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. xxxvii. (1883) 176 Moyses..be godes aᵹenum dihte rihte laᵹe scyfte. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1046, Þa scyfte man Harold [read Beorn] eorl up þæs cynges scipe þe Harold eorl ær steorde. c 1200 Ormin 470 Forr prestess þanne & dæcness ec shifftedenn hemm bitwenenn Whillc here shollde serrfenn firrst. 13.. K. Alis. 6714 (Laud MS.), Þe messagers aȝein he shiftes. c 1386 Chaucer 2nd Nun's T. 278 Witnes Tyburces and Valerians shrifte, To whiche god of his bountee wolde shifte Corones two of floures. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 323 For thou benymst me thilke yifte, Which lith noght in thi miht to schifte. a 1400 Morte Arth. 2456 Thane the schalkes scharpelye scheftys theire horsez. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 8715 And thus haue thei her armes schiffted, Ther baneres are wel hye lyffted. |
2. To apportion, distribute; to separate into shares, divide;
rarely to divide or partition
off from.
| c 1000 Secular Laws Cnut §78 (Liebermann) 364/3 For þa yrfenuman to lande & to æhtan, & scyftan hit swiðe rihte. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 237 Ac ȝief ȝe habbeð understande þat we ȝiu er sede eter gate me his scyft and þer me hi to ȝesceodeð. c 1200 Vices & Virt. 37 Si recte offers, et non recte diuidis, peccasti, ‘ȝif ðu right offrest and noht riht ne sciftst, ðu seneȝest mare ðan ðu god do’. c 1315 Shoreham iv. 178 Þys manere senne nys nauȝt ones, Ac hys ischy[f]t in þry. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1482 A gret schode Of grauel & erþe al so, Þat hem hadde schifted ato. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 294 Al freliche of his oghne yifte His whete, among hem forto schifte. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 108 in Macro Plays 80 To putte his good in gouernaunce..he wolde þat it were scyfftyd a-mongis his ny kynne. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 446/1 Schyftyn, or partyn, or delyn, divido, partior. 1483 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 317 To take..the same hervest corne so boght and to shyfte ond distribute it upon the commynes. 1529 S. Fish Suppl. Beggars (Arb.) 5 Nowe let vs then compare the nombre of this vnkind idell sort vnto the nombre of the laye people and we shall se whether it be indifferently shifted or not that they shuld haue half. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 477 They of this our Kentish countrie, do yet call their partition of lande (shifting) even by the very same woord that the lawe of Canutus many yeeres since termed it. 1703 Neve City & C Purchaser 229 A little square corner of a Room, shifted off from the rest of the Room by the Wainscot. 1735–6 Pegge Kenticisms. |
| absol. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 2194 King Ban hadde..þe cite of Beuoit & Bohort hadde þe cite of Gaines..& þus þai hadde schift atvo. |
† 3. to shift one's hand,
shift one's words: to act or speak in a particular manner. Also
refl. Obs.| a 1300 Cursor M. 23390 Als suith mai þou cum þider, Al at þi wil or elles quider, Nu at þe erth nu at þe lift, Or hu sumeuer þou will þe scift. Ibid. 23703 And þus-gat sal he schift his hand, Þe werld [read with Gött. MS. lauerd] þat es ai lastand. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 166 And elde hent good hope and hastilich he shifte [v.r. chifte] hym. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 136 And loke wel that he ne schifte Hise wordes to no wicked use. 14.. Sir Beues (M.) 502 And he sye, it was no better paye, But shifte hym in the beste way. 1574 W. Bourne Regiment Sea (1577) Introd. 7 b, And to haue capacitie howe for to handle or schift him⁓selfe in foule weather or stormes. |
† 4. a. intr. To manage matters; to deal, bargain, make arrangements
with; to make provision
for.
to let (persons) shift [
= F.
laisser faire]: to let (them) take their own course, not to interfere.
Obs.| a 1300 Cursor M. 4440 He ferd ai wit so mikel thrift Þat al was don als he wald scift. c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 2704 With these meyne moste we shifte, To haue parte of here vitailes her. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon x. 274, I holpe theym not nor I was not agenst theym but wythdrewe me aside & lete the other shyfte [Fr. laissay faire les autres] wyth theym and I stode styll. Ibid. xii. 301 Lete theym shyfte [Fr. laissez les faire] hardely, they two togyder. Ibid. xix. 403 Let hym shyfte with the kynge as he wyl. 1490 ― Eneydos xxxix. 129 He lete theym shyfte, & fought tyll that the euyn departed theym. 1513 More Rich. III (1883) 39 And shyfte whoso would with thys busynes afterwarde: for he neuer entended more to moue her in that matter. 1529 Rastell Pastyme (1811) 271 Because they lacked money, they shyfted with the staple of Caleys for .xviii. thousande pounde. 1549 Cheke Hurt Sedit. (1641) 42 Caterpillers destroy the fruit, an hurtfull thing and well shifted for, by a diligent overseer. |
† b. ? To bestir oneself.
Obs.| a 1400 Morte Arth. 3847 And so they schyfte and schove, be schotte to the erthe. c 1475 Partenay 2792 So he shifte And smote here And ther so faste, That the yren dore persed at the laste. |
† c. to shift in the world, also quasi-trans.
to shift the world: to face the chances of life.
Obs.| 1536 Lady Rocheford in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 68 And I not assuryd of no more..then one hundreth Marke; whyche ys veary hard for me to schyffte the worldd wythall. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. i. 24 They ware banysshed that enhabitaunce of pleasure [Paradise] and driuen to shift the world. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 386 Chaunge this your perillous purpose, and determine otherwise to shifte in the worlde. |
5. a. To manage to effect one's purposes, or to make a living, by one's own devices; to succeed, get on (well or ill).
Obs. exc. dial.| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 940 To shyfte, cheuir. 1562 Bp. Pilkington Abdias Pref. Aa iv b, Many fishes be raueners, yet the yong fish encreases: the Hawkes be gredy yet shifts the littell byrds. 1568 C. W[atson] Polybius 61 The inhabitants hauing repaired their walles, shifted well wyth this their lingering off. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 660 So well they shifted, that the Ape anon Himselfe had cloathed like a Gentleman. 1620 Middleton Chaste Mayd ii. 24 She that hath wit, may shift any-where. c 1650 Don Bellianis 226 Here we can do no otherwise, replied he, but in the city we may better shift. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 281, I had some Inclination to give them their lives, if they thought they could shift on Shore. 1775 Johnson West. Isl., Coriatachan 118 The rider then dismounts and all shift as they can. |
| quasi-trans. 1836 Carlyle Let. 16 May in Atlantic Monthly (1898) Sept. 295, I have no doubt Robert will shift his way with all dexterity..thro' that Cotton Babylon. |
b. ‘To act or live though with difficulty’ (J.); to manage
with something inferior or
without something desirable; to make shift.
| 1673 Temple Adv. Trade Irel. Wks. 1720 I. 116 Common Garrans shift upon Grass the Year round. 1723 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 128 The first [hard work] I had been an utter stranger to, the last [hard fare] I could shift well enough with. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. Introd. 6 After the public had shifted with having the fire below for the term of ten years. 1815 Jane Austen Emma viii, She is left in Mrs. Goddard's hands to shift as she can. 1865 Cornh. Mag. Oct. 513 Might not the colonists shift for the present with the southern island? 1900 Pilot 7 July 16/2 Congregations were deprived of their pastors, and had to shift as they best could without them. |
6. To employ shifts or evasions; to practise or use indirect methods; to practise or live by fraud, or temporary expedients.
| 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 35 If I be in Crete, I can lye, if in Greece I can shift, if in Italy I can court it. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 20 There be those that will iustifie that by such meanes y{supu} doe shift now and then very cunningly. 1615 J. Taylor (Water P.) Revenge Wks. 1630 ii. 144/1 To Sharke or Shift, or Cony-catch for mony. 1634 J. Levett Ordering of Bees 42 They are composed for the most part of yong Bees, who know not how to shift and rob as the old ones do. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Shift,..to double or dodge, as wild Beasts do when hunted. 1808 Scott Marm. ii. xxix, To Whitby's convent fled the maid, The hated match to shun. ‘Ho! shifts she thus?’ King Henry cried. |
7. a. to shift for oneself: to provide for one's own safety, interests, or livelihood (implying either absence of aid, or, sometimes, want of concern for others); to depend on one's own efforts.
| a 1513 Fabyan Chron. v. cxxviii. (1811) 110 The firste was of laufull age, soo that he myght helpe & shyfte for hym selfe. 1529 Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 183 He putt the poore man in jepardy of his lyff yff he had nott shyftyd the better for hym self. 1593 Tell-troth's N.Y. Gift (1876) 6 The birdes bringe upp the yong untill they can shift for themselves. 1643 Baker Chron., Rich. III, 131 His complices shifted for themselves. 1709 Swift Advancem. Relig. 32 As if the Physicians should..leave their Patients to shift for themselves. 1808 Scott in Lockhart (1837) I. i. 5 This occasioned a quarrel between him and his father, who left him to shift for himself. 1877 Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. x. 123 All..forsook him to shift for themselves. |
b. transf. of inanimate or immaterial things.
| 1689 Popple tr. Locke's 1st Let. L.'s Wks. 1727 II. 248 For the Truth certainly would do well enough, if she were once left to shift for herself. 1788 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 210, I concluded to let my papers shift for themselves. 1859 Jephson Brittany ii. 16 [Sewage] deposited on the pavement, where it is left to shift for itself. |
c. to shift for one's own safety, etc.
| 1511 Guylforde's Pilgr. (Camden) 60 Euery man to shyfte for his escape as Almyghty God wolde yeue theym grace. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 12 Our Fleet lay a hull..each shifting for its owne safetie. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 17 They were obliged to shift as they could for their own security. |
II. To change.
8. a. trans. To change, to replace by another of the kind. With plural object: To quit one and take another of (the things indicated).
Obs. exc. (somewhat
arch.) with
obj. a quality or appearance, as
to shift shapes.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1732 Ten siðes ðus binnen .vi. ȝer, Shiftede iacob hirdenesse her. 1545 Act 37 Hen. VIII c. 9, §5 The wares..so bargayned, solde, eschaunged or shifted. 1618 Chapman Hesiod's Georg. ii. 517 The shamelesse Man shifts friends still with his place. 1667 Pepys Diary 3 Oct., There staid..till he shifted his horses. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 639 Having shifted ev'ry Form to scape, Convinc'd of Conquest, he resum'd his Shape. 1760 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. ii. 212 How many times did..the clergy..change or shift their opinions? 1864 Tennyson Voyage v, The peaky islet shifted shapes. |
b. Cookery. To change (the water in which something is steeped). Also, to change the water for, to transfer to another water. Now
rare or
Obs.| 1675 H. Woolley Gentlew. Comp. 125 Then steep the [Calves-]Head in fair water warm five hours, in that time shift it twice or thrice. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery xi. 122 Shift the Water two or three times. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 169 Shift the peel into clean water twice in the boiling. |
† c. Phrases.
to shift a mind: to change one's mind.
to shift hands:
= ‘to change hands’; also, to change one's ground in argument.
Obs.| 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl E 1, But sleepe vpon this once more sir, you may chance shift a minde to morrow. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) II. 85 His affections all shifting hands as it were, and changing objects with one another. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. People Pref. 14 Crafty Turn-coat! Are you not asham'd to shift hands thus in things that are Sacred? 1699 Bentley Phalaris 296 This being the Point he promised to prove, he presently shifts hands, and changes the Question. |
† d. To change (places). Also
intr. to change places
with.
Obs.| 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 150 That they should thus shift places, is very convenient for them. 1785 Burns Ep. J. Lapraik 21 Apr. xiii, Wi' cits nor lairds I wadna shift, In a their pride! |
† e. Shipbuilding. (
a) To replace (old timbers, etc.) with new. (
b) [? From
shift n. 16.] To adjust the ‘shift’ of (planks, etc.) in building a vessel.
| 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 76 She shifted none of her said Rudder-Irons. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 47 A Ship's Bottom..wherein are shewed the Shifting, Scarfing or Over-launching the Planks. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §85 note, The term shifting a timber in Ship⁓wrightry signifies in general the substitution of a piece of new timber in the place of a piece of old. 1805 Shipwright's Vade-M. 201 The Wales must be wrought of such lengths, and the butts shifted, so as to give the strongest shift to the ports and each other. 1852 Fincham Ship Building ii. (ed. 3) 39 The butts are properly placed, or what is technically called properly shifted, when they are suitably disposed in relation to the ports and to each other. |
f. intr. To undergo transmutation; to change.
| 1605 B. Jonson Volpone i. ii, But I come not here, to discourse of that matter,..Or his telling how Elements shift. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion i. ii. 24 Let Proteus shift in ocean From shape to shape that eludes. |
9. a. trans. To change (one's own or another's clothing). Now chiefly
dial. Also
fig.| c 1400 Rule of St. Benet (Prose) 36 Tuinnne paire claþis sal ilkain haue for to scifte and for to waisse; yef þai haue mare, it sal be scorn. 1530 Palsgr. 703/1 I shyfte garmentes, je change. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 26 Would'st thou have us sluts, and never shift the vestur of our thoughts? 1605 B. Jonson Volpone i. ii, But I Would aske, how of late, thou hast suffered translation, And shifted thy coat, in these dayes of Reformation? 1723 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 82, I went immediately to shift my clothes. 1844–48 W. Barnes Poems Rural Life 185 Poll an' Nan runn'd off up stairs, To shift ther ðings. |
† b. To change (a person's) clothes; to dress in fresh underclothing.
Obs.| a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III, 26 They bothe discended to the highe altare and were shifted from their robes. 1579–80 North Plutarch, Marcus Cato (1595) 382 His wife did vnswadell the young boy to wash and shift him. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 611 Neyther may she speake, but by those Magitæ is shifted and gallantly adorned. 1754–64 Smellie Midwif. I. 204 She must then be shifted with a clean, warm, half shift, linen-skirt and bed-gown. |
c. refl. To change one's clothing; to put on fresh clothing,
esp. undergarments.
Obs. exc. dial. † Formerly
const. into,
out of,
from, etc. (clothes).
| 1530 Palsgr. 703/1 In the sommer season I love to shyfte me often. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 64 He shifted hymself into a robe of a Cardinall. 1558 in Kempe Losely MSS. (1836) 185 He hath not left hym a shert there to shyft hym with all. 1622 in Foster Eng. Factories India (1908) II. 125 Nott leavinge one ragge to shift us. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 53, I was wet, and had no Cloaths to shift me. 1839 Heref. Gloss. s.v., A man who changes his clothes is said ‘to shift himself’. |
d. intr. for refl. † Const.
into.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear v. iii. 186 [It] taught me to shift Into a madmans rags. 1728 Young Love of Fame vi. 42 She begs you just would turn you, while she shifts. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge xx. (1836) II. 304 We..shifted, breakfasted, and..returned to Ballywindle. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 30 After getting shifted I turned in and was soon asleep. |
10. a. trans. To change (the scene): see
scene 4.
| 1599, 1611 [see scene 4]. 1692 Scarronides ii. Pref. 3 The Scenes in our publick Theatres are not shifted so often as our thoughts. 1742 Young Nt. Th. iii. 363 'Tis time, high time, to shift this dismal scene. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiii. (1861) V. 117 The scene of the negociation was again changed. Having been shifted from France to England, it was shifted from England to Holland. |
b. intr. Of a scene: To change. Const.
to.
| 1828 Scott F.M. Perth i, Gazing on the scene before me as if I had been afraid it would shift like those in a theatre before [etc.]. 1861 Paley æschylus, Eumen. (ed. 2) Introd., The scene shifts to the latter place. |
† 11. trans. To cause (a set of workmen) to change places with another set. Also said of a gang of workmen: To replace (another gang or set) as a relief; also
intr. for refl.| 1673 Haddock Corr. 28 in Camden Miscell. VIII, I went on bord the R. Charles to shift the men. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §123 The companies at this time shifted there. Ibid. §232 Jessop and company went out to shift Richardson. |
III. To change the place of, to remove.
*
transitive uses.
12. To transfer from one place to another; to remove; to alter the position of. Const.
from,
out of,
to; also often with
adv. or
advb. phrase.
a. with
obj. a person.
† Also
refl. to withdraw.
| c 1375 Cursor M. 24807 (Fairf.) Vn-til ship sone was he shift. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 9822 And thus this goode knight thei shift Euen to the Citie of Damas. 1575 Gascoigne Hemetes the Heremyte Wks. 1910 II. 482 Being shifted from y⊇ sighte of y{supt} I sought above all thinges in the world. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. vi. III. 53 He was shifted to a more commodious apartment. |
| refl. 1555 J. Proctor Wyat's Rebell. 39 [They] consideringe..their chiefe strength thus tourned vppon them,..shifted them selues awaye. 1643 Baker Chron., Eliz. 1 7 He came all in a sweat to the Sheriff Smith's house, who shifteth himself forth at a back door. |
b. With
obj. a material thing. In
Gardening, to transplant.
| c 1425 Cast. Persev. 2850 in Macro Plays 162, I may not onys myn hod up schyfte. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §141 Howe he wolde haue..his cattel shifted out of one pasture into an other. 1588 Churchw. Acc. Pittington (Surtees) 27 Item given for bread & drinke when the fonte was shifted, xvj d. 1593 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. v. 2 Ser. Where's Potpan, that he helpes not to take away? He shift a Trencher? he scrape a Trencher? 1680 Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (Camden) 232 Tother day, in shifting of a cabinet. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 1 July (1815) 214 He re-ascends into the apartment by the steps, which had been shifted for that purpose. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. ii. iii, He showed me how to shift the plants. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 209 It is the land and not the sea that has shifted its level. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxii. 386 Cæsar had shifted his camp continually. |
c. With immaterial object. Often with reference to a metaphorical burden: To transfer (blame, responsibility, etc.)
from (a person, oneself)
to or
upon another.
| a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 196 This answer gave he, as mycht appear, to schift ower the argument upon the Freare, as that he did. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. ii. §54 Every man shifting the fault from himself. 1774 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. R.A. 10 Dec. (1778) 204 The name of Genius then shifted its application. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. vi. 498 A feeling of this inconsistency led several later writers to shift the story to a later time. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 252 The license which is admitted in shifting the accent for purposes of scansion and rhyme. 1885 Dunckley in Manch. Weekly Times 7 Feb. 5/5 The burden of taxation has been shifted from articles of necessary consumption to luxuries. |
† d. To palm off (something)
on a person; to get rid of by handing
over (something undesirable)
to another.
Obs.| 1634 Canne Necess. Separ. (1849) 289 Some merchants who..will show the buyer a little that is good, and by this means cunningly shift all the rest upon him. 1659 Clarke Papers (Camden) IV. 290 The proclamation declaring M. Gen. Egerton, &c., rebells and traytours came..to a petty constable of this towne, who shifted it over to another well⁓affected constable. |
e. To change (gear), move (a gear lever). Also
intr., to change
from one gear
into another;
to shift up or
shift down, to engage a higher or a lower gear. Also
fig.| 1910 J. E. Homans Self-Propelled Vehicles (ed. 7) xxix. 381 In shifting from high to low gears, all intermediate speeds were engaged. Ibid. xlv. 625 On shifting the transmission lever for the speed changes, if the transmission be of the selective type, the two movements..may offer some difficulty to the beginner. 1946 W. H. Crouse Automotive Mech. xvii. 388 Let us shift into second and note the actions that take place. Ibid. 389 Synchromesh devices come into use when gears are shifted into second and high. 1961 Webster, Shift gears, to make a change from one method, tempo, or approach to another. 1962 J. D. MacDonald Girl viii. 99 She drove with her brown hands high on the wheel... She shifted up and shifted down. 1965 A. Miller Incident at Vichy 32 For some of us it's difficult to shift gears and go into reverse. 1969 New Yorker 6 Sept. 105/2 The Rumanians, having barely paused to shift their ideological gears, began holding the..congress. 1970 D. MacKenzie Kyle Contract (1971) 13 He drove out of Palamos... He shifted into drive and settled back. 1973 R. Hayes Hungarian Game liii. 319, I..shifted from second to third and..let my hand linger a while on the gear lever's mahogany knob. 1973 Sci. Amer. Apr. 11/2 (Advt.), Once on the valley floor I shifted up into fourth. 1973 Time 16 Apr. 53/1 ‘We're shifting gears,’ says Vail, ‘and hiring guys with a track record of seven, eight, nine years' experience.’ 1976 H. Nielsen Brink of Murder xv. 132 Simon switched on the ignition and shifted into reverse. |
f. Computers. To move (data) to right or left in a register. Also
absol.| 1946 Ann. Computation Lab. Harvard Univ. I. 72 The quotient shift counter..is used to calculate the number of columns the quotient must be shifted to the right upon reading out to the buss in order to conform with the operating decimal position. 1947 A. W. Burks et al. in Coll. Wks. J. von Neumann (1963) V. 44 We do not consider multiplication by 2 as a true product since we will have a facility for shifting right or left in one or two pulse times. 1966 IFIP–ICC Vocab. of Information Processing 70 Digits shifted beyond the end of the word or register may simply be dropped. 1968 Fox & Mayers Computing Methods for Scientists & Engineers ii. 21 The first operation ‘shifts’ a2 to the right by b1–b2 places. |
13. Naut. a. To change or alter the position of (a sail, spar, the helm, etc.).
| 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 515 As when a Ship..where the Wind Veres oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her Saile. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 18 Shift the Mizen tack, hawl bout fore Bowline. 1795 Nelson 13 Mar. in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 14 Employed shifting our topsails and splicing our rigging. 1825 H. B. Gascoigne Path to Naval Fame 50 The angl'd Jib with speed they hoist away, Then Shift the Helm to make her cast right way. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 150 Shift the Helm! to put it from starboard to port, or the reverse. |
† b. To record the variations of (the tide), the positions of the sun and moon.
Obs.| a 1592 Lodge & Greene Looking Gl. (1598) E 1 b, Lets see the proudest scholler stir his course Or shift his tides as Silly sailers do. 1594 J. Davis Seamans Secr. (1607) 11 The necessary instrument for the yong practising seamans use, named an Horizontall tyde Table, whereby he may shift his Sun and Moone (as they terme it). |
c. Of a ship or a navigator: To undergo displacement of (cargo or ballast).
| 1854 G. B. Richardson Univ. Code v. (ed. 12) 803, I have shifted my ballast. 1880 Times 17 Dec. 5/6 The Isabel,..laden with oats, arrived..with cargo shifted. |
14. To alter the direction of.
| 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 3 He not being so often called upon to shift his Course, or hand his Sails. 1781 Cowper Table T. 387 Th' inestimable estimate of Brown Rose like a paper-kite, and charm'd the town; But measures, plann'd and executed well, Shifted the wind that rais'd it, and it fell. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. ii. iii. 149 As when the winds are shifted Shine snowy sails. |
15. To change or alter (one's or its position, place); to change (one's lodging, abode, etc.).
† Phrase,
to shift place(s.
In early examples really a contextual application of sense 8.
| 1563–83 Foxe A. & M. 54/2 Many times he [Origen] was compelled to shift places and houses. 1587 Harrison England ii. xix. 205/2 They must needs shift soile, and seeke vnto other countries. 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars i. lxix, Happy confiners you of other landes That shift your soile and oft scape tyrants hands. 1667 Pepys Diary 6 May, At his coming to town again, [he] had shifted his lodgings. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 133 The fiery Courser, when he hears from far..the Shouts of War, Shifts Place. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 268 As quails and wood-cocks shift their habitations in winter, so also does the cuckoo. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 18 Advancing and retreating as the spray shifted its position. |
16. a. To get (a person) out of the way. In early use chiefly with
away (see also 12 a). In later use without
adv.: To get rid of (an enemy or rival). Now
slang or
colloq., to dislodge (a body of the enemy); (of a horse) to throw (the rider); also
euphemistically, to ‘put out of the way’, murder.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 79 Whil'st you were heere, o're-whelmed with your griefe Cassio came hither. I shifted him away. 1615 R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 19 He will be shifted out of his government or kingdom. 1703 Duke of Queensberry in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 238 In a short time the Duke of Queensberry was to be shifted out, so as he was to be sole Secretary. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 180 Although the wicked little beast did his utmost to shift me, I managed to frustrate his efforts. 1898 Daily News 29 Sept. 3/2 [The enemy] were four to our one, but we shifted them. Ibid. 10 Oct. 5/1 That would-be criminals..do sometimes cast about for safe means of ‘shifting’ inconvenient relatives, or enemies, there is, we fear, little doubt. |
b. colloq. or
slang. To ‘put away’, ‘dispose of’, consume (a quantity of food or drink); to spend (money).
| 1896 P. A. Graham Red Scaur xvii. 263 Did you ever see her..shiftin' a curran' dumplin'? 1907 H. Wyndham Flare of Footlights xxii, Lord, but he can shift his liquor! 1923 E. P. Oppenheim Inevitable Millionaires xiv. 148, I should trip it to Monte. That's the place to shift the shekels. |
† 17. a. To avoid, elude, escape.
Obs.| 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars iii. lxxvii, He..now strikes againe, Then nimbly shiftes a thrust, then lendes a wound. 1667 J. Guthrie in Union Mag. Oct. (1902) 463 It [a cross] is an affliction man cannot shift except he shift duty. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. (1875) 70 These Beasts range in the night for their prey, and if they should meet with me in the dark, how should I shift them! 1724 A. Shields Life Renwick (1827) 60 Whereby they were..convinced of the Evil of these Courses they had taken, to shift and shun Suffering. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxviii, ‘Hush! hush!’ said Jenny, whose interest lay particularly in shifting further enquiry. |
† b. To decline, shirk (a duty).
Obs.| c 1611 Chapman Iliad xii. 233 This motion, Glaucus shifted not, but (without words) obeyd. |
† c. To pass, get through (a period of time); to ‘kill’ time. Also, to put off, defer. Chiefly
Sc. Obs.| c 1562 E. Underhill in Narr. Reform. (Camden) 149 Ther was..no better place to shifte the Easter tyme in then quene Maryes courte. 1721 Ramsay Lucky Spence 5 When she now faun, That death nae langer wad be shifted, She thus began. 1730 T. Boston View this & other World (1799) 389 It will be dear-bought ease that is got by shifting to make ready. Ibid. 390 These thoughts are shifted, till they force in them⁓selves by death at the door. a 1732 ― Acc. My Life (1908) 81 It was suggested..that Langton minded to shift it till Michaelmas was past. 1766 A. Nicol Poems 1 (E.D.D.) Cast wholly on the care of Heav'n I shifted time, toss'd by hard fortune, Till I was near the age of fourteen. |
† d. To quit or leave (a place).
Obs. rare.
| a 1642 Suckling Goblins i. Wks. 1874 II. 11 Shift, shift the place, the wood is dangerous: As you love safety, follow me. 1822 Scott Peveril viii, They say he goes to shift the country. |
† 18. To rid
of. Often
refl. and pass.| 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. i. xiii. E iij, If that my booke be burthenouse shift the of it be tyme. c 1610 Sir J. Melvil Mem. (1735) 346, I did what I could to be shifted of the said Commission. 1613 Beaum. & Fl. Hon. Man's Fort. iv. i, Shift your house, Lady of 'em, for I know 'em, They come to steal Napkins, and your Spoons. 1657 C. Hoole Corderius's School-Colloq. (1688) 102 He says that he by God's blessing, is now quite shift of his fever. |
19. shift off.
† a. To put off, remove (a covering, a garment);
fig. to remove from oneself or another (a burden).
Obs.| 1567 Fenton Trag. Disc. Ded. (1898) I. 3 Old, not in yeares, wich the most parte cold be content to shyfte of and forgo. 1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 157 Deadora..hastily shifted off her gowne. 1673 R. Leigh Transp. Reh. 61 The bishop..would haue declin'd the office, and shifted it off to one of his chaplains. 1786–1805 Tooke Purley Introd. 6 To take upon my shoulders a burthen which you seem desirous to shift off upon me. |
† b. colloq. To get rid of the effects of (drink).
| 1660 Pepys Diary 17 Aug., I saw Mr. Creed show many of the strangest emotions to shift off his drink I ever saw in my life. |
c. To evade, turn aside (an argument); to evade fulfilment of (a duty, a promise).
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades ii. iii. 133 Let vs not lye, nor goe about with subtiltie to shifte off the othe that once we haue made. 1674 Hickman Quinquart. Hist. (ed. 2) 39 The calling of a Councel had been shifted off by Leo the X. a 1768 Secker Serm. (1770) I. iii. 59 Many of them..shift off the Subject, as well and as soon as they can. 1774 Reid Aristotle's Logic iv. §7 Conceiving that he intended to shift off his second payment. |
d. To put (a person) off with an excuse or a subterfuge; to get rid of (a person).
| c 1585 Faire Em ii. iii, Here commeth Valingford; Shift him off now, as thou hast done the other. 1607 Lingua i. vii. B 3 b, Where shall I run? how shall I shift him of? 1748 ? Noble Voy. E. Indies (1762) 31 The poor planter..was shifted off with a trifling answer. 1779 Johnson Lives Poets, Denham ¶42 Now and then the reader is shifted off with what he can get. |
**
intransitive uses.
20. To move from one place to another;
esp. to change one's lodging.
| 1530 Palsgr. 703/1 You can never thrive, you use to shift so often. 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Dogges i. (1880) 6 To and fro runne they, from place to place shift they, vntil they haue attained to that plot of grounde where they passed ouer. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1149/1 After that he shifted to one James Mower a shipmaster, who dwelt at Milton shore. 1711 Swift Jrnl. Stella 4 July, Her life passes with boarding in some country town as cheap as she can, and when she runs out, shifting to some cheaper place. 1851 Carlyle Sterling i. iii, On the 20th of March 1815, the family had to shift. |
21. a. To move about, to move from one position to another, to move slightly. Also with
advs.| 1595 Saviolo's Practise i. E 2, But when the scholler shall giue the mandritta, the maister must shifte a little with his bodye. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables lxviii. 67 A Natural Levity that puts us upon Shifting and Changing. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 598 The nodes shift back⁓wards about 191/3° in the ecliptic every year. 1833 Tennyson Goose vii, She shifted in her elbow-chair. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 180 Its [the sea's] level is constantly shifting up and down. |
b. of immaterial things.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. lii. (1612) 234 Our Thoughts be shifting to and fro. 1744 Armstrong Art Pres. Health ii. 244 Happiness..that from stage to stage Invites us still, but shifts as we pursue. |
c. Naut. Of cargo, ballast: To move from its proper position, so as to disturb the equilibrium of the vessel.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 377/1 They would have little or no occasion for ballast, and if any was used, could incur less danger from its shifting. 1912 Times 19 Dec. 20/5 There is always the risk that a grain cargo may shift. |
d. Of the wind: To change its direction. Const.
to.
| c 1645 Howell Lett. (1892) II. 659 The wind..begins to sift [sic] already. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 14 The wind..shifted to and agen from East to North. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. xiii. III. 311 The wind shifted a point or two to the northward of east. 1885 Manch. Exam. 10 Sept. 5/5 The wind has shifted round to due west. |
e. In playing the violin or other instrument of the viol class, to move the left hand from one position to another on the neck of the instrument.
| 1891 Latarche Violin Student's Man. 7 Shifting... To shift from the fifth to the higher positions, before moving the hand, throw back the thumb until the neck rests on the first joint. |
22. a. To move away, withdraw, depart;
esp. to slip off unobserved. Now only with
away.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. 168 Oh Mistris, Mistris, shift and saue your selfe. 1593 ― Lucr. 1104 No obiect but her passions strength renewes: And as one shiftes another straight insewes. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 72 He shifted away by night, leauing his sonne behinde him. 1629 R. L'Estrange Josephus, Life (1733) 808 He put himself into a Disguise..and so shifted away till he came to a certain Village of his own. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley xxii, The eyes that had been looking at his shifted away as he spoke. |
b. Law. Of an estate: To pass
away from one owner to another.
| 1844 J. Williams Real Prop. (1877) 292 The lands will shift away from him, and vest in the person next entitled in remainder. |
23. To move, to travel,
esp. quickly; to get a move on.
Cf. shift n. 14 a.
colloq.| 1922 M. Arlen ‘Piracy’ i. i. 21, I am..going to leap on my motor-bike and shift like hell to London. 1968 A. Diment Bang Bang Birds ix. 170 The speedo needle clawed its way up..to finally flicker over the 180 mark. Kilometres an hour of course but we were still shifting. 1970 M. Kenyon 100,000 Welcomes v. 37 You'll have time for a bite at Murphy's if you shift. |
Add:
[III.] [12.] g. colloq. To sell.
Cf. move v. 1
f.| 1976 New Musical Express 12 Feb. 25/3 Fleetwood Mac..finally cracked the America market in a Big Way last year, shifting over three million copies of their album. 1986 Marketing 11 Sept. 6/1 He hopes to shift 5,000 holidays in the coming year by exploiting a market not yet covered by most major short break operators. 1990 Church Times 19 Jan. 9/2 He was also hopeful that some {pstlg}40,000-worth of unsold books would eventually be shifted. |