▪ I. skift, n.1 Obs.
Also skiffte, skyft(e.
[a. ON. skipti (MSw. skipte; Norw., Sw., Da. skifte) distribution, shift, etc.: cf. skift v.1]
A shift, in various senses; a change; a division or share; an artifice, device, or trick.
| c 1400 Sc. Trojan War (Horstm.) ii. 1719 Now as hillis hie it schawis, Now set laich with ane noþir skift, That þai may se nocht bot þe lift. c 1440 York Myst. xxvi. 130 At oure soper as we satte,..My skiffte come to scathe. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 198 in Babees Bk., Yf any man haue part with þe in gyft, With hym þou make an euen skyft. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxiv. 392 Is ther none other skyfte Bot syfte, lady, syfte? 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. xvii. 211 Make ye as good skyfte as ye can; ye shal bere this lady with you on horsbak vnto the pope of Rome. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 481/2 He will haue a clappe on the tone cheke or the tother, make what skyfte he can. |
▪ II. † skift, n.2 Obs.—1
(See quot.)
| 1783 W. Gordon Livy i. iv. (1823) 20 The water had subsided and left the trough or skift [L. alveus], in which the infants had been exposed, on dry ground. |
▪ III. skift, n.3
Variant (chiefly N.Amer.) of skiff n.2
| 1808 B. Hunt Diary 25 Dec. in Chester Co. (Pa.) Hist. Soc. Bull. (1898) 17 May be call'd green Christmass: a small skift of snow. 1877 May Laffan Hon. Miss Ferrard I. vii. 191 The autumn leaves rustling under foot and flying off in sudden skifts across the dry ruddy grass. 1927 Amer. Speech II. 364 Skift of snow, a small amount of snow. 1947 Canad. Cattlemen (Winnipeg) Dec. 148 Farmers regard ‘a skift o' rain’ as an adjunct to the fermentation of the natural juices in the semi-green corn blown into the [silo]. 1970 I. Petite Meander to Alaska iv. 34 We had seen practically every rock, headland, light, skift of sea birds rising, tree, and deserted beach cabin. |
▪ IV. skift, n.4
(skɪft)
Var. skiff n.1 U.S. dial.
| 1656 Suffolk Co. (Mass.) Deeds (1880) I. 2 [We are] desired by Jno. Blackman to App[rize] a smale skifte taken vp adrift. 1807 J. R. Bedford in Tenn. Hist. Mag. (1919) V. 118 They would board us in their skift without the inconvenience to us of going to shore. 1816 U. Brown Jrnl. 12 Sept. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1916) XI. 222 Wm. Wells..prevails with me to go with him down the River 11/4 Miles to what he called a skift. 1885 Century Mag. Aug. 505/2 Visitors call it a skiff, natives a skift. 1935 G. Santayana Last Puritan iii. x. 395 You were perfectly happy here, sculling in your skift. |
▪ V. skift, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: 4–6 skyft, 4–5 -e (5 scyfft), 4–5, 9 skift (8 Sc. skifft), 5 -e.
[a. ON. skipta (MSw. skipta; Norw. and Sw. skifta, Da. skifte) to divide, change, etc., = OE. sciftan, shift v.]
1. trans. To shift, change, or move (something).
| 13.. Cursor M. 23678 (Edinb.), Sun and mon, and stern on lift, Þat ai wit stiring er nu skift,..Fra þat tim stil sal þai stand. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 709 Now haf þay skyfted my skyl & scorned natwre. c 1440 Alph. Tales 389 He wolde nevur skyfte his clothis bod ons in a yere. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. xl. 405 Lete see now yf ye can skyfte it with your handes. 1828– in many north. dial. glossaries, etc. (see Eng. Dial. Dict.). |
† 2. To arrange, devise, manage, or order (something). Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 569 ‘Þus schal I,’ quoth kryste, ‘hit skyfte, Þe laste schal be þe fyrst þat strykez.’ ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 32 Scathylle Scottlande by skylle he skyftys as hym lykys. Ibid. 1643 Loke ȝe skyfte it so þat vs no skathe lympe. |
† 3. To divide, distribute, or make division. Obs.
| c 1420 Sir Amadas 644 (W.), Bot skyfte me evon,..Gyffe me my parte, Y wyll awey. Ibid. 656 Oderwyse skyft wyll not wee, Bot at yor wyll schall hit bee. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 108 in Macro Plays 80 His good..he wolde þat it were scyfftyd a-mongis his ny kynne. |
† 4. intr. To ordain; to act, devise. Obs.
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. 61 Bot Godd that skilfulli kan skift, Mad them alle serely spekand. c 1500 H. Medwall Nature i. (Brandl) 574 Well enured men, suche as..can best for you in tyme of nede skyft. |
5. To undergo shifting, change, or removal; to change one's place, etc. Obs. exc. dial.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 19 Oft boþe blysse & blunder Ful skete has skyfted synne. a 1400–50 Alexander 467 To skyre skarlet hewe skyftis hire face. Ibid. 5040 Baldly he wepis, þat he so skitly suld skifte. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 67 The sun now frae the twal hour point Had nearly skifftit twa hours yont. 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights xxiv, He mad ye skift properly. 1848 Tales of Kirkbeck 155 A huge carved oak rocking chair ‘fearfu' lubbardly for skifting’. |
† b. To escape, get away from. Obs.
| c 1440 York Myst. xxvi. 41 Why, sir, to skyfte [pr. skyste] fro his skath We seke for youre socoure þis sesoune. |
Hence † ˈskifting vbl. n., division, distribution.
| c 1440 Alph. Tales 249 So þer fell a grete debate..for skiftyyng of þis money betwix þaim. |
▪ VI. skift, v.2 Sc.
[Perhaps only a special use of prec.; see also skiff v.2]
intr. To move lightly and quickly; to skip, run, glide, etc.
| a 1586 Sir R. Maitland Poems (Maitl. Club) 30 Use not to skift athort the gait. 1640 Canterburians Self-Conviction Postscr. 13 But ye skift out here much further to an extravagance. 1790 A. Wilson To W. Mitchell Poet. Wks. (1846) 112 High ower my head the sheep in packs, I see them mice-like skift. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 182 And Arnold's nakit ghaist was seen Loupin'..And skiftin' owr the roofs like fire. |