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''shift'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260213210016-00-⌔
shift - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

shift (countable and uncountable, plural 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.

✤ My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air.¹

✤ The generational shift Mr. Obama once embodied is, in fact, well under way, but it will not change Washington as quickly — or as harmoniously — as a lot of voters once hoped.²

(obsolete) A share, a portion assigned on division.

(historical) 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.

✤ No; without a gown, in a shift that was somewhat of the coarsest, and none of the cleanest, bedewed likewise with some odoriferous effluvia, the produce of the day’s labour, with a pitchfork in her hand, Molly Seagrim approached.³

✤ At length, one night, when the company by some accident broke up much sooner than ordinary, so that the candles were not half burnt out, she was not able to resist the temptation, but resolved to have them some way or other. Accordingly, as soon as the hurry was over, and the servants, as she thought, all gone to sleep, she stole out of her bed, and went down stairs, naked to her shift as she was, with a design to steal them […]⁴

✤ Some wear black shifts and flesh-coloured stockings; some with curly hair, dyed yellow, are dressed like little girls in short muslin frocks.⁵

A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.

A change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time.

✤ Synonyms: workshift, turn of duty

✤ We’ll work three shifts a day till the job’s done.

✤ Work commenced at 2.30 p.m. on Saturday and continued without break until 4 a.m. on Monday morning, in the course of which three shifts of upwards of 90 men each and three steam cranes were employed.⁶

(US) 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”).

✤ If you press shift-P, the preview display will change.

(computing) A control code or character used to change between different character sets.

(computing) An instance of the use of such a code or character.

(computing) A bit shift.

(baseball) An infield shift.

✤ Teams often use a shift against this lefty.

(Ireland, crude slang, often with the definite article, usually uncountable) 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.⁷

✤ [If] I went on dates with these two[alcohols], right, you’re a deep meaningful conversation with this one, […] but this one? A shift and a finger and maybe you’d go home, do you know what I mean?⁸

(archaic) 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.⁹

(archaic) 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 *¹⁰

✤ Reduced to pitiable shifts.¹¹

✤ I’ll find a thousand shifts to get away.¹²

✤ Little souls on little shifts rely.¹³

(construction) The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.

(mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.

(genetics) 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.¹⁴

(music) 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.

(British slang) be done; ruined

Verb

shift (third-person singular simple present shifts, present participle shifting, simple past and past participle shifted)

(transitive, sometimes figurative) To move from one place to another; to redistribute.

✤ Synonyms: relocate, transfer; see also Thesaurus: move

✤ We’ll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office.

✤ By shifting the longitude problem to the scientific community, they stifled public criticism of their inability to solve the problem. […] But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.¹⁵

✤ The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.¹⁶

(ergative, figurative) To change in form or character; switch.

✤ Synonyms: interchange, swap; see also Thesaurus: switch, Thesaurus: convert

✤ As a result, I shifted my approach to focus on group-generated activities and broadened the chronological time frame.¹⁷

✤ His voice shifted from song to whisper.¹⁸

(intransitive, sometimes reflexive and figurative) To change position; to move.

✤ Synonym: reposition

✤ She shifted slightly in her seat.

✤ His political stance shifted daily.

✤ We were hoping he could shift himself to take care of the problem, but he couldn’t be shifted.

✤ A maverick is an unbranded calf that has been weaned and shifts for itself.¹⁹

(intransitive, India) To change residence; to leave and live elsewhere.

✤ Synonyms: move, relocate

✤ We are shifting to America next month.

(obsolete, transitive) To change (clothes, especially underwear); to change the clothes of.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:, II.ii.2:

✤ ‘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 […].

(obsolete, transitive, reflexive) 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.²⁰

✤ The first thing he did was to secure a convenient lodging at the inn where he dined; then he shifted himself, and according to the direction he had received, went to the house of Mrs. Gauntlet […].²¹

(intransitive) To change gears (in an automobile).

✤ I crested the hill and shifted into fifth.

(typewriters) To move the keys of a typewriter over in order to type capital letters or special characters.

(computer keyboards) To switch to a character entry mode for capital letters or special characters.

(transitive, computing) To manipulate a binary number by moving all of its digits left or right; compare rotate.

✤ Antonym: unshift

✤ * Shifting 1001 to the left yields 10010; shifting it right yields 100.*

(transitive, computing) To remove (the first value from an array).

(transitive) To dispose of, remove.

✤ Synonyms: get rid of, remove; see also Thesaurus: junk

✤ How can I shift a grass stain?

(intransitive) To hurry; to move quickly.

✤ Synonyms: hasten, rush; see also Thesaurus: rush

✤ If you shift, you might make the 2:19.

✤ Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it’s enjoyable - boy, can those trains shift under the wires.²²

(Ireland, vulgar, slang, transitive) To engage in sexual petting with.

✤ Synonyms: fondle, grope; see also Thesaurus: fondle

✤ 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?²³

(archaic, intransitive) To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to cope, get by, manage, make do.

✤ […] men in distress will look to themselves in the First Place, and leave their Companions to Shift as well as they can.²⁴

✤ My Fellow-Slaves were […] as courteous to me as I could well-expect; and as they had Plantations of their own, they gave me […] such Victuals as they had; especially on dark Nights, and at such Times as I could not shift for myself.²⁵

(intransitive) 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.²⁶

(intransitive, music) In violin -playing, to move the left hand from its original position next to the nut.

(intransitive) To use meditation or other means to change the reality that one’s consciousness resides in.

✤ I finally shifted to Hogwarts last night!

(Nigeria, slang) To steal or kidnap.

(Minecraft, video games) To crouch in game, especially if the shift key is pressed to initiate crouching.

Etymology

The noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with German Schicht (“layer, shift”).

The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), 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”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.

Pronunciation

IPA: /ˈʃɪft/, [ˈʃʰɪft]

Audio (Canada): 🔊

Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Rhymes: -ɪft

Hyphenation: shift

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

c. 1620-1626, Henry Wotton, letter to Nicholas Pey ↩

2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in The New York Times ‎ $^{[1]}$ , archived from the original on 3 June 2020: ↩

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter X, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book V: ↩

1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools ‎ $^{[2]}$ , volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202: ↩

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 47”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC: ↩

1958 June, “New Track Layout and Marshalling Yard at Barking”, in Railway Magazine, page 428: ↩

2023, Colin Walsh, Kala: ↩

2024 December 16, Dermot Ward, in “Irish People Try Cheap Vs Expensive Alcohol 3&t=16m” (c. 16 minutes in), The TRY Channel: ↩

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC,: ↩

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC,: ↩

1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC: ↩

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]: ↩

1687, [John Dryden], “”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC: ↩

2017, Laura Spinney, Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World, →ISBN: ↩

2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist ‎ $^{[3]}$ , volume 100, number 2, page 87: ↩

2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist ‎ $^{[4]}$ , volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 10 August 2013, page 68: ↩

2008, June Granatir Alexander, Ethnic Pride, American Patriotism, page ix: ↩

2013, Steven H. Knoblauch, The Musical Edge of Therapeutic Dialogue: ↩

1914 January, Zane Grey, The Light of Western Stars: A Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 59: ↩

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]: ↩

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 21, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume I, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC: ↩

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68: ↩

2018, Sally Rooney, “Two Days Later (April 2011)”, in Normal People: ↩

1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] Fable 83, Reflexion.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 81: ↩

1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar ‎ $^{[5]}$ , London, page 112: ↩

1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], chapter 3, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, 1st book, §. section 7, page 45: ↩

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''shift'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''shift'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260213210016-00-⌔

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Noun

Verb

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