shift
pronunciation
How to pronounce shift in British English:
UK [ʃɪft]
How to pronounce shift in American English:
US [ʃɪft]
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- Noun:
- an event in which something is displaced without rotation
- a qualitative change
- the time period during which you are at work
- the act of changing one thing or position for another
- the act of moving from one place to another
- (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
- a group of workers who work for a specific period of time
- a woman's sleeveless undergarment
- a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist
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- Verb:
- make a shift in or exchange of
- change place or direction
- move around
- move very slightly
- move from one setting or context to another
- change in quality
- move and exchange for another
- move sideways or in an unsteady way
- move abruptly
- use a shift key on a keyboard
- change phonetically as part of a systematic historical change
- change gears
- lay aside, abandon, or leave for another
Word Origin
- shift
- shift: [OE] Old English sciftan meant ‘arrange’ (it came from a prehistoric Germanic base *skip-, which also produced German schichten ‘arrange in layers, pile up’, and traces of its original meaning survive in make-shift [16], denoting something arranged or contrived for lack of anything better). Its modern meaning ‘move’ emerged in the 14th century, via an intermediate ‘change’. The notion of ‘change’ underlies the use of the noun shift for ‘woman’s slip’, which evolved from an earlier ‘change of clothing’, and also its use for a ‘particular working period’, marked by a ‘change’ of workers at beginning and end.
- shift (v.)
- Old English sciftan, scyftan "arrange, place, order," also "divide, partition; distribute, allot, share," from Proto-Germanic *skiftan (cognates: Old Norse skipta "to divide, change, separate," Old Frisian skifta "to decide, determine, test," Dutch schiften "to divide, turn," German schichten "to classify," Schicht "shift"). This is said to be related to the source of Old English sceadan "divide, separate," (see shed (v.)). c. 1200 as "to dispose; make ready; set in order, control," also intransitive, "take care of oneself." From c. 1300 as "to go, move, depart; move (someone or something), transport." Sense of "to alter, to change" appeared mid-13c. (compare shiftless). Meaning "change the gear setting of an engine" is from 1910; to shift gears in the figurative sense is from 1961. Related: Shifted; shifting.
- shift (n.1)
- c. 1300, "a movement, a beginning," from shift (v.). This is the word in to make shift "make efforts" (mid-15c.). Sense of "change, alteration" is from 1560s. Sense of "means to an end" is from 1520s; hence "an expedient." Meaning "mechanism for changing gear in a motor vehicle" is recorded from 1914. Typewriter shift key is from 1893; shift-lock is from 1899. Meaning "period of working time" (originally in a mine) is attested from 1809, with older sense "relay of horses" (1708); perhaps with sense influenced by a North Sea Germanic cognate word (such as North Frisian skeft "division, stratum," skaft "one of successive parties of workmen"). Similar double senses of "division" and "relay of workers" exist in Swedish skift, German schicht.
- shift (n.2)
- "body garment, underclothing," 1590s, originally used alike of men's and women's pieces, probably from shift (n.1), which was commonly used in reference to a change of clothes. In 17c., it began to be used as a euphemism for smock, and was itself displaced, for similar reasons of delicacy, in 19c. by chemise.
Synonym
Example
- 1. The shift will not be easy .
- 2. Power in monetary policy will also shift .
- 3. The russians would also begin to shift ground .
- 4. The tectonic shift between developed and emerging markets continued .
- 5. A miner picked up safety supplies before his shift .