Word: shift Part of Speech: verb 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: /ˈʃɪft/, [ˈʃʰɪft] 1. To move from one place to another; to redistribute. Labels: figuratively, sometimes, transitive Example: We'll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office. Example: 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. 2. To change in form or character; switch. Labels: ergative, figuratively Example: As a result, I shifted my approach to focus on group-generated activities and broadened the chronological time frame. Example: His voice shifted from song to whisper. 3. To change position; to move. Labels: figuratively, intransitive, reflexive, sometimes Example: She shifted slightly in her seat. Example: His political stance shifted daily. 4. To change residence; to leave and live elsewhere. Labels: India, intransitive Example: We are shifting to America next month. 5. To change (clothes, especially underwear); to change the clothes of. Labels: obsolete, transitive Example: '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 […]. 6. To change (someone's) clothes; sometimes specifically, to change underwear. Labels: obsolete, reflexive, transitive Example: As it were, to ride day and night; and […] not to have patience to shift me. Example: 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 […]. 7. To change gears (in an automobile). Labels: intransitive Example: I crested the hill and shifted into fifth. 8. To move the keys of a typewriter over in order to type capital letters or special characters. 9. To switch to a character entry mode for capital letters or special characters. 10. To manipulate a binary number by moving all of its digits left or right; compare rotate. Labels: transitive Example: Shifting 1001 to the left yields 10010; shifting it right yields 100. 11. To remove (the first value from an array). Labels: transitive 12. To dispose of, remove. Labels: transitive Example: How can I shift a grass stain? 13. To hurry; to move quickly. Labels: intransitive Example: If you shift, you might make the 2:19. Example: 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. 14. To engage in sexual petting with. Labels: Ireland, slang, transitive, vulgar Example: 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? 15. To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to cope, get by, manage, make do. Labels: archaic, intransitive Example: […] men in distress will look to themselves in the First Place, and leave their Companions to Shift as well as they can. Example: 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. 16. To practice indirect or evasive methods; to contrive. Labels: intransitive Example: 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. 17. In violin-playing, to move the left hand from its original position next to the nut. Labels: intransitive 18. To use meditation or other means to change the reality that one's consciousness resides in. Labels: intransitive Example: I finally shifted to Hogwarts last night! 19. To steal or kidnap. Labels: Nigeria, slang 20. To crouch in game, especially if the shift key is pressed to initiate crouching.