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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Shift \Shift\ (sh[i^]ft), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shifted}; p. pr.
& vb. n. {Shifting}.] [OE. shiften, schiften, to divide,
change, remove. AS. sciftan to divide; akin to LG. & D.
schiften to divide, distinguish, part Icel. skipta to divide,
to part, to shift, to change, Dan skifte, Sw. skifta, and
probably to Icel. sk[imac]fa to cut into slices, as n., a
slice, and to E. shive, sheave, n., shiver, n.]
1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion. [Obs.]
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To which God of his bounty would shift
Crowns two of flowers well smelling. --Chaucer.
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2. To change the place of; to move or remove from one place
to another; as, to shift a burden from one shoulder to
another; to shift the blame.
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Hastily he schifte him[self]. --Piers
Plowman.
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Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days,
Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways.
--Tusser.
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3. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to
turn; as, to shift the helm or sails.
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Carrying the oar loose, [they] shift it hither and
thither at pleasure. --Sir W.
Raleigh.
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4. To exchange for another of the same class; to remove and
to put some similar thing in its place; to change; as, to
shift the clothes; to shift the scenes.
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I would advise you to shift a shirt. --Shak.
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5. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively. [Obs.]
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As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to
have patience to shift me. --Shak.
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6. To put off or out of the way by some expedient. "I shifted
him away." --Shak.
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{To shift off}, to delay; to defer; to put off; to lay aside.


{To shift the scene}, to change the locality or the
surroundings, as in a play or a story.
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Shift the scene for half an hour;
Time and place are in thy power. --Swift.
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Shift \Shift\, v. i.
1. To divide; to distribute. [Obs.]
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Some this, some that, as that him liketh shift.
--Chaucer.
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2. To make a change or changes; to change position; to move;
to veer; to substitute one thing for another; -- used in
the various senses of the transitive verb.
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The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. --Shak.
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Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his
seat. --Sir W.
Scott.
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3. To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to
contrive; to manage.
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Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave
their companions to shift as well as they can.
--L'Estrange.
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4. To practice indirect or evasive methods.
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All those schoolmen, though they were exceeding
witty, yet better teach all their followers to
shift, than to resolve by their distinctions. --Sir
W. Raleigh.
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5. (Naut.) To slip to one side of a ship, so as to destroy
the equilibrum; -- said of ballast or cargo; as, the cargo
shifted.
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Shift \Shift\, n. [Cf. Icel. skipti. See {Shift}, v. t.]
1. The act of shifting. Specifically:
(a) The act of putting one thing in the place of another,
or of changing the place of a thing; change;
substitution.
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My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of
air. --Sir H.
Wotton.
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(b) A turning from one thing to another; hence, an
expedient tried in difficulty; often, an evasion; a
trick; a fraud. "Reduced to pitiable shifts."
--Macaulay.
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I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away.
--Shak.
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Little souls on little shifts rely. --Dryden.
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2. Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's
under-garment; a chemise.
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3. The change of one set of workmen for another; hence, a
spell, or turn, of work; also, a set of workmen who work
in turn with other sets; as, a night shift.
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4. In building, the extent, or arrangement, of the
overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed
in courses so as to break joints.
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5. (Mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a
fault.
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6. (Mus.) A change of the position of the hand on the finger
board, in playing the violin.
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{To make shift}, to contrive or manage in an exigency. "I
shall make shift to go without him." --Shak.
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[They] made a shift to keep their own in Ireland.
--Milton.
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