Word Meanings - SHIFT - Book Publishers vocabulary database

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. skifa to cut into slices, as n., a 1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion. To

Additional info about word: SHIFT

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. skifa to cut into slices, as n., a 1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion. To which God of his bounty would shift Crowns two of flowers well smelling. Chaucer. 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. Hastily he schifte him . Piers Plowman. Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days, Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways. Tusser. 3. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to turn; as, to shift the helm or sails. Carrying the oar loose, shift it hither and thither at pleasure. Sir W. Raleigh. 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. I would advise you to shift a shirt. Shak. 5. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively. As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to have patience to shift me. Shak. 6. To put off or out of the way by some expedient. "I shifted him away." Shak. 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. Shift the scene for half an hour; Time and place are in thy power. Swift.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of SHIFT)

• Change Vary
• alter
• modify
• diversify
• qualify
• transmute
• substitute
• fluctuate
• shift
• veer
• exchange
• Chicanery
• Artifice
• subtlety
• sophistry
• subterfuge
• prevarication
• trickery
• dodge
• quibble
• mystification
• pettifogging
• underhandedness
• Palter
• Shuffle
• prevaricate
• trifle
• haggle
• Shelve
• Dismiss
• discard
• swamp
• stifle
• Confuse
• interchange
• intershift
• intermix
• derange
• agitate
• evade
• equivocate
• cavil
• sophisticate
• mystify
• palter
• dissemble

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of SHIFT)

• Reason
• argue
• enunciate
• investigate
• discuss
• Fix
• fasten
• locate
• insert
• pitch
• plant
• place

Related words: (words related to SHIFT)

• PITCHSTONE
  An igneous rock of semiglassy nature, having a luster like pitch.
• MODIFY
  1. To change somewhat the form or qualities of; to alter somewhat; as, to modify a contrivance adapted to some mechanical purpose; to modify the terms of a contract. 2. To limit or reduce in extent or degree; to moderate; to qualify; to lower.
• DISMISSIVE
  Giving dismission.
• DERANGER
  One who deranges.
• STIFLED
  Stifling. The close and stifled study. Hawthorne.
• PITCHERFUL
  The quantity a pitcher will hold.
• DERANGEMENT
  The act of deranging or putting out of order, or the state of being deranged; disarrangement; disorder; confusion; especially, mental disorder; insanity. Syn. -- Disorder; confusion; embarrassment; irregularity; disturbance; insanity;
• ARTIFICER
  A military mechanic, as a blacksmith, carpenter, etc.; also, one who prepares the shells, fuses, grenades, etc., in a military laboratory. Syn. -- Artisan; artist. See Artisan. (more info) 1. An artistic worker; a mechanic or manufacturer; one
• HAGGLE
  To cut roughly or hack; to cut into small pieces; to notch or cut in an unskillful manner; to make rough or mangle by cutting; as, a boy haggles a stick of wood. Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled o'er, Comes to him, where in gore he lay
• TRIFLE
  trifle, probably the same word as F. truffe truffle, the word being 1. A thing of very little value or importance; a paltry, or trivial, affair. With such poor trifles playing. Drayton. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmation strong
• ALTERNATING CURRENT
  A current which periodically changes or reverses its direction of flow.
• PITCHINESS
  Blackness, as of pitch; darkness.
• PITCHFORK
  A fork, or farming utensil, used in pitching hay, sheaves of grain, or the like.
• DISMISSAL
  Dismission; discharge. Officeholders were commanded faithfully to enforce it, upon pain of immediate dismissal. Motley.
• PLACEMENT
  1. The act of placing, or the state of being placed. 2. Position; place.
• ALTERNATION
  Permutation. 3. The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister. Mason. Alternation of generation. See under Generation. (more info) 1. The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the act of following and being
• REASONING
  1. The act or process of adducing a reason or reasons; manner of presenting one's reasons. 2. That which is offered in argument; proofs or reasons when arranged and developed; course of argument. His reasoning was sufficiently profound. Macaulay.
• AGITATE
  1. To move with a violent, irregular action; as, the wind agitates the sea; to agitate water in a vessel. "Winds . . . agitate the air." Cowper. 2. To move or actuate. Thomson. 3. To stir up; to disturb or excite; to perturb; as, he was greatly
• CHANGEFUL
  Full of change; mutable; inconstant; fickle; uncertain. Pope. His course had been changeful. Motley. -- Change"ful*ly, adv. -- Change"ful*ness, n.
• PLACENTARY
  Having reference to the placenta; as, the placentary system of classification.
• DISPLANTATION
  The act of displanting; removal; displacement. Sir W. Raleigh.
• SUPPLANT
  heels, to throw down; sub under + planta the sole of the foot, also, 1. To trip up. "Supplanted, down he fell." Milton. 2. To remove or displace by stratagem; to displace and take the place of; to supersede; as, a rival supplants another in the
• DENUNCIATE
  To denounce; to condemn publicly or solemnly. To denunciate this new work. Burke.
• SUBALTERNANT
  A universal proposition. See Subaltern, 2. Whately.
• FALTER
  To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley. Halliwell.
• MISALTER
  To alter wrongly; esp., to alter for the worse. Bp. Hall.
• EFFLAGITATE
  To ask urgently. Cockeram.