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Tip: Click Thesaurus above for synonyms. Also, follow synonym links within the dictionary to find definitions from other sources.

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
shift
    n 1: an event in which something is displaced without rotation
         [syn: shift, displacement]
    2: a qualitative change [syn: transformation, transmutation,
       shift]
    3: the time period during which you are at work [syn: shift,
       work shift, duty period]
    4: the act of changing one thing or position for another; "his
       switch on abortion cost him the election" [syn: switch,
       switching, shift]
    5: the act of moving from one place to another; "his constant
       shifting disrupted the class" [syn: shift, shifting]
    6: (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the
       displacement of one side with respect to the other; "they
       built it right over a geological fault"; "he studied the
       faulting of the earth's crust" [syn: fault, faulting,
       geological fault, shift, fracture, break]
    7: a crew of workers who work for a specific period of time
    8: the key on the typewriter keyboard that shifts from lower-
       case letters to upper-case letters [syn: shift key,
       shift]
    9: a woman's sleeveless undergarment [syn: chemise, shimmy,
       shift, slip, teddy]
    10: a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders
        without a waist [syn: chemise, sack, shift]
    v 1: make a shift in or exchange of; "First Joe led; then we
         switched" [syn: switch, change over, shift]
    2: change place or direction; "Shift one's position" [syn:
       shift, dislodge, reposition]
    3: move around; "transfer the packet from his trouser pockets to
       a pocket in his jacket" [syn: transfer, shift]
    4: move very slightly; "He shifted in his seat" [syn: stir,
       shift, budge, agitate]
    5: move from one setting or context to another; "shift the
       emphasis"; "shift one's attention"
    6: change in quality; "His tone shifted"
    7: move and exchange for another; "shift the date for our class
       reunion"
    8: move sideways or in an unsteady way; "The ship careened out
       of control" [syn: careen, wobble, shift, tilt]
    9: move abruptly; "The ship suddenly lurched to the left" [syn:
       lurch, pitch, shift]
    10: use a shift key on a keyboard; "She could not shift so all
        her letters are written in lower case"
    11: change phonetically as part of a systematic historical
        change; "Grimm showed how the consonants shifted"
    12: change gears; "you have to shift when you go down a steep
        hill"
    13: lay aside, abandon, or leave for another; "switch to a
        different brand of beer"; "She switched psychiatrists"; "The
        car changed lanes" [syn: switch, shift, change]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.]
      [1913 Webster]

            To which God of his bounty would shift
            Crowns two of flowers well smelling.  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Hastily he schifte him[self].         --Piers
                                                  Plowman.
      [1913 Webster]

            Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days,
            Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways.
                                                  --Tusser.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to
      turn; as, to shift the helm or sails.
      [1913 Webster]

            Carrying the oar loose, [they] shift it hither and
            thither at pleasure.                  --Sir W.
                                                  Raleigh.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            I would advise you to shift a shirt.  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to
            have patience to shift me.            --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. To put off or out of the way by some expedient. "I shifted
      him away." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Shift the scene for half an hour;
            Time and place are in thy power.      --Swift.
      [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Shift \Shift\, v. i.
   1. To divide; to distribute. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Some this, some that, as that him liketh shift.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            The sixth age shifts
            Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his
            seat.                                 --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to
      contrive; to manage.
      [1913 Webster]

            Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave
            their companions to shift as well as they can.
                                                  --L'Estrange.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To practice indirect or evasive methods.
      [1913 Webster]

            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.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

4. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
          [1913 Webster]

                My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of
                air.                              --Sir H.
                                                  Wotton.
          [1913 Webster]
      (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.
          [1913 Webster]

                I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away.
                                                  --Shak.
          [1913 Webster]

                Little souls on little shifts rely. --Dryden.
          [1913 Webster]

   2. Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's
      under-garment; a chemise.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a
      fault.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. (Mus.) A change of the position of the hand on the finger
      board, in playing the violin.
      [1913 Webster]

   To make shift, to contrive or manage in an exigency. "I
      shall make shift to go without him." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            [They] made a shift to keep their own in Ireland.
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

5. The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018)
SHIFT

   Scalable Heterogeneous Integrated Facility Testbed.  A
   parallel processing project at CERN.


Thesaurus Results for shift:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
Doppler effect, aberrancy, aberration, about ship, about the bush, about-face, accommodation, action, ad hoc measure, adaptation, adjustment, advance, alchemy, alter, alteration, alternate, ameliorate, amelioration, amotion, anchor watch, answer, apostasy, around the bush, art, artful dodge, artifice, ascend, assimilate to, assimilation, assumption, back, back and fill, back up, bag of tricks, be changed, be converted into, be renewed, bear away, bear off, bear to starboard, beat, beat about, beat around, become, becoming, beg the question, bend, betterment, bias, bicker, bit, blind, blouse, bluff, bodice, boggle, bosey, bottom out, bout, box off, branch off, branching off, break, bring about, bring round, bring to, budge, cadre, caftan, cant, cant round, carry away, carry off, cart away, cast, cast about, catch, cavil, change, change course, change into, change of heart, change over, change place, change the bearing, change the heading, change-over, changeableness, changeover, cheat, checker, chemise, chicanery, chop, chop and change, choplogic, chouse, circle, circuitousness, climb, come about, come around, come round, conspiracy, constructive change, continuity, contrivance, conversion, convert, corner, corps, corsage, countermove, coup, course of action, craft, crew, crook, curve, curve-ball, cute trick, day shift, deceit, deceive, declination, defection, deflection, degenerate, degeneration, degenerative change, delocalization, delocalize, demarche, depart from, departure, deracination, dernier ressort, descend, design, deteriorate, deterioration, detour, deviance, deviancy, deviate, deviation, device, deviousness, dickey, difference, digress, digression, dirty deal, dirty trick, disarrangement, disarticulation, discontinuity, discursion, disjointing, dislocation, dislodge, displace, displacement, dither, divagate, divagation, divaricate, divarication, diverge, divergence, diversification, diversify, diversion, diversity, do over, dodge, dogleg, dogwatch, double, double a point, drift, drifting, duck, ebb, ebb and flow, edge, effort, equivocate, errantry, evade, evade the issue, excursion, excursus, exorbitation, expediency, expedient, fakement, fast deal, feint, fence, fetch, fetch about, ficelle, finesse, fitting, flip-flop, flop, flounder, flow, fluctuate, forcible shift, full time, gambit, game, gang, get over, gimmick, go, go about, go around, go round, go sideways, go through phases, googly, gradual change, graveyard shift, grift, group, growth, gybe, gyrate, hairpin, half time, haul around, heave round, hedge, heel, hem and haw, heterotopia, hocus-pocus, hours, improve, improvement, improvisation, incoherence, indirection, intrigue, jibe, jibe all standing, joker, juggle, jugglery, jury-rig, jury-rigged expedient, knavery, lapse, last expedient, last resort, last shift, lay aside, lie, linen, little game, lobster trick, look after, luxation, make, make do, make it, make over, makeshift, manage, maneuver, manhandle, market, means, measure, meliorate, melioration, miss stays, mitigate, mitigation, modification, modulate, modulation, mount, move, move over, movement, moving, mutate, muu-muu, mystify, naturalization, naturalize, night shift, nitpick, obliquity, obscure, oscillate, overthrow, overtime, palter, parry, part time, party, pass, passage, pendulate, pererration, pick nits, pis aller, plot, ploy, plunge, ply, prevaricate, progress, pull away, pull back, pussyfoot, put about, put aside, put back, put off, qualification, quibble, racket, radical change, rambling, re-creation, re-formation, realignment, rearrange, recoil, reconversion, reconvert, recourse, red herring, red shift, redesign, reduce to, reduction, reform, reformation, refuge, regress, relay, relocate, relocation, remaking, remotion, removal, remove, removement, render, renewal, reshaping, resolution, resolve into, resort, resource, restructuring, retrogress, reversal, reverse, revival, revive, revivification, revolution, ring the changes, ripping out, rise, rotate, round a point, run, ruse, schedule, scheme, scurvy trick, seesaw, sell, send, set aside, shake-up, sheer, sheer off, shift about, shift off, shifting, shifting course, shifting path, shilly-shally, shirt, shrink, shuffle, shunt, shy, shy away, shy off, side, sidestep, sink, skew, slant, sleight, sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, slew, smock, soar, solution, spin, split hairs, split schedule, split shift, squad, staff, stagger, step, step aside, stint, stir, stopgap, stratagem, strategy, straying, stream, stroke, stroke of policy, subside, substitute, subterfuge, succeed, sudden change, sunrise watch, sway, sweep, swerve, swerving, swing, swing round, swing shift, swing the stern, swinging, switch, switch over, switch-over, tack, tactic, take a turn, take away, take care of, team, teeter, teeter-totter, temporary expedient, tergiversate, throw about, time, total change, totter, tour, tour of duty, transfer, transform, transformation, transit, transition, transpose, travel, trend, trick, trickery, trump, turn, turn aside, turn back, turn into, turn of work, turn the corner, turnabout, turning, turning into, twist, twist and turn, undergo a change, unhinging, unjointing, upheaval, uprooting, vacillate, variation, variety, vary, veer, violent change, volte-face, waist, wandering, wane, ward off, warp, watch, waver, wax and wane, wear, wear ship, whirl, wile, wily device, wind, wobble, work shift, workers, working hypothesis, working proposition, worsen, worsening, yaw, zigzag
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