Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense shifts, present participle shifting, past tense, past participle shifted
1. verb
If you shift something or if it shifts, it moves slightly.
He stopped, shifting his cane to his left hand. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
He shifted from foot to foot. [VERB preposition/adverb]
The entire pile shifted and slid, thumping onto the floor. [VERB]
...the squeak of his boots in the snow as he shifted his weight. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: move, drift, move around, veer More Synonyms of shift
2. verb
If someone's opinion, a situation, or a policy shifts or is shifted, it changes slightly.
Attitudes to mental illness have shifted in recent years. [VERB]
The emphasis should be shifted more towards Parliament. [beVERB-ed preposition/adverb]
[Also V adv]
Shift is also a noun.
...a shift in government policy. [+ in]
...the shift in opinion away from the Prime Minister.
3. verb
If someone shifts the responsibility or blame for something onto you, they unfairly make you responsible or make people blame you for it, instead of them.
[disapproval]
It was a vain attempt to shift the responsibility for the murder to somebody else. [VERB noun preposition]
4. verb
If a shop or company shifts goods, they sell goods that are difficult to sell.
[British]
Some suppliers were selling at a loss to shift stock. [VERB noun]
5. verb
If you shift gears in a car, you put the car into a different gear.
[US]regional note: in BRIT, use change
6. countable noun [oft noun NOUN]
If a group of factory workers, nurses, or other people work shifts, they work for a set period before being replaced by another group, so that there is always a group working. Each of these set periods is called a shift. You can also use shift to refer to a group of workers who work together on a particular shift.
His father worked shifts in a steel mill.
...workers coming home from the afternoon shift.
The night shift should have been safely down the mine long ago.
Synonyms: team, squad, crew, gang More Synonyms of shift
7. See also shifting
Phrasal verbs:
See shift down
See shift up
More Synonyms of shift
shift in British English
(ʃɪft)
verb
1.
to move or cause to move from one place or position to another
2. (transitive)
to change for another or others
3.
to change (gear) in a motor vehicle
4. (intransitive)
(of a sound or set of sounds) to alter in a systematic way
5. (intransitive)
to provide for one's needs (esp in the phrase shift for oneself)
6. (intransitive)
to proceed by indirect or evasive methods
7.
to remove or be removed, esp with difficulty
no detergent can shift these stains
8. (intransitive) slang
to move quickly
9. (transitive) computing
to move (bits held in a store location) to the left or right
noun
10.
the act or an instance of shifting
11.
a group of workers who work for a specific period
12.
the period of time worked by such a group
13.
an expedient, contrivance, or artifice
14.
the displacement of rocks, esp layers or seams in mining, at a geological fault
15.
an underskirt or dress with little shaping
Derived forms
shifter (ˈshifter)
noun
Word origin
Old English sciftan; related to Old Norse skipta to divide, Middle Low German schiften, to separate
shift in American English
(ʃɪft)
verb transitive
1.
to move or transfer from one person, place, or position to another
to shift the blame
2.
to replace by another or others; change or exchange
3.
to change (gears) from one arrangement to another in driving a motor vehicle
4.
to change phonetically, as by Grimm's law
5. Chiefly Dialectal
to change (clothes)
verb intransitive
6.
a.
to change position, direction, form, character, etc.
b.
to undergo phonetic change
7.
to get along; manage
to shift for oneself
8.
to use tricky, evasive, or expedient methods
9. US
to change from one gear arrangement to another
10.
in typing, to change from small letters, etc. to capitals, etc. by depressing a key (shift key)
11. Chiefly Dialectal
to change one's clothing
noun
12.
the act of shifting from one person, place, position, etc. to another; change; transfer;substitution
13.
a means or plan of conduct, esp. one followed in an emergency or difficulty; expedient; stratagem
14.
a deceitful scheme or method; evasion; trick
15. US
gearshift
16.
a.
a group of people working in relay with another or other groups
the night shift
b.
the regular work period of such a group
17.
a change in direction, as of the wind
18.
a. Rare
a chemise, or woman's slip
b.
a loose dress that hangs straight with no waistline
19. Chiefly Dialectal
a change of clothing
20. US, American Football
a regrouping of offensive or defensive players before the ball is put in play
21. Linguistics
a phonetic change or series of changes that alters the system of sounds in a language
see also Great Vowel Shift
22. Mining
a fault or displacement, as in a vein
23. Music
a change in the position of the hand, as on the fingerboard of a violin
24. Physics
a change in the observed frequency of a wave, as of light or sound
Idioms:
make shift
Derived forms
shiftable (ˈshiftable)
adjective
shifter (ˈshifter)
noun
Word origin
ME schiften < OE sciftan, to divide, separate < IE *skeib- > ship
Word lists with
shift
articles of clothing, articles of clothing, dress, underwear
In other languages
shift
British English: shift /ʃɪft/ NOUN
If someone's opinion, a situation, or a policy changes slightly, the change is called a shift.
...a shift in government policy.
American English: shift
Arabic: تَغْيِير
Brazilian Portuguese: mudança
Chinese: 转换
Croatian: promjena
Czech: posun změna
Danish: skift
Dutch: verschuiving
European Spanish: desplazamiento
Finnish: siirtymä
French: déplacement
German: Verschiebung
Greek: μετατόπιση
Italian: spostamento
Japanese: 変化
Korean: 이동
Norwegian: skift
Polish: zmiana praca
European Portuguese: mudança
Romanian: schimbare
Russian: перемещение
Latin American Spanish: cambio
Swedish: skift
Thai: การเปลี่ยนแปลง
Turkish: yer değiştirme
Ukrainian: зміна
Vietnamese: sự thay đổi
British English: shift /ʃɪft/ VERB
If you shift something, or if it shifts, it moves slightly.
He shifted from foot to foot.
American English: move
Arabic: يُحَوِّلُ
Brazilian Portuguese: mudar
Chinese: 转换
Croatian: premještati
Czech: posunout (se)
Danish: skifte
Dutch: verschuiven
European Spanish: mover posición
Finnish: siirtää
French: déplacer
German: verschieben
Greek: μεταθέτω
Italian: spostare
Japanese: 移す
Korean: 이동하다
Norwegian: forskyve
Polish: przesunąć się
European Portuguese: mudar
Romanian: a schimba
Russian: перемещать
Latin American Spanish: desplazar
Swedish: byta
Thai: เคลื่อนย้าย
Turkish: yer değiştirmek
Ukrainian: переміщувати(ся)
Vietnamese: di chuyển
British English: shift VERB
If you shift something or if it shifts, it moves slightly.
He stopped, shifting his cane to his left hand.
American English: shift
Brazilian Portuguese: mudar
Chinese: 稍微移动
European Spanish: desplazar
French: passer
German: bewegen
Italian: spostare
Japanese: 少し動かす/少し動く
Korean: 옮기다
European Portuguese: mudar
Latin American Spanish: desplazar
All related terms of 'shift'
day shift
a group of workers who work a shift during the daytime in an industry or occupation where a night shift or a back shift is also worked
shift key
a key on a typewriter or computer keyboard used to type capital letters and certain numbers and symbols
shift up
When you shift up , you move the gear lever in the vehicle you are driving in order to use a higher gear.
back shift
a group of workers who work a shift from late afternoon to midnight in an industry or occupation where a day shift or a night shift is also worked
Lamb shift
the small difference in energy between two states of the hydrogen atom detected by Willis Eugene Lamb (1913–2008), the US physicist
make shift
to manage or do the best one can ( with whatever means are at hand )
night shift
a group of workers who work a shift during the night in an industry or occupation where a day shift or a back shift is also worked
scene shift
the changing of scenes during a play
shift down
When you shift down , you move the gear lever in the vehicle you are driving in order to use a lower gear.
shift gears
to change from one gear arrangement to another
shift lock
a key on some computer keyboards that when pressed affects the output of other keys, allowing you to type in capital letters or to type certain numbers and symbols without having to hold down the shift key
sound shift
a gradual alteration or series of alterations in the pronunciation of a set of sounds, esp of vowels
split shift
a work period divided into two parts that are separated by an interval longer than a normal rest period
stick shift
A stick shift is the lever that you use to change gear in a car or other vehicle.
swing shift
a group of workers who work a shift from late afternoon to midnight in an industry or occupation where a day shift or a night shift is also worked
vowel shift
a systematic phonetic change in a language's vowels
column shift
A column shift is a gearshift lever mounted on the steering column.
Doppler shift
the shift in frequency , usually measured in hertz , due to the Doppler effect
lobster shift
the night shift of a newspaper staff , or now of any working force
shift weight
The weight of a person or thing is how heavy they are, measured in units such as kilograms , pounds , or tons .
shift worker
a person who does shiftwork
consonant shift
a change , or a set of connected changes, in the articulation of consonants in any language or family of languages
Einstein shift
a small displacement towards the red in the spectra , caused by the interaction between the radiation and the gravitational field of a massive body, such as the sun
function shift
a change in the syntactic function of a word, as when the noun mushroom is used as an intransitive verb
graveyard shift
If someone works the graveyard shift , they work during the night .
paradigm shift
a radical change in underlying beliefs or theory
shift register
(in digital circuits ) a register in which all bits can be shifted one or more positions to the left or to the right
functional shift
the conversion of a linguistic form from one part of speech to another, as the use of a noun as a verb
Great Vowel Shift
a phonetic change that took place during the transition from Middle to Modern English , whereby the long vowels were raised ( eː became iː 🔊 , oː became uː 🔊 , etc). The vowels ( iː 🔊 ) and ( uː 🔊 ) underwent breaking and became the diphthongs ( aɪ 🔊 ) and ( aʊ 🔊 )
phase shift keying
phase shift keying : a digital data modulation system in which binary data signals switch the phase of a radio frequency carrier
shift one's ground
to change one's argument or defense
shift responsibility
If you have responsibility for something or someone, or if they are your responsibility , it is your job or duty to deal with them and to take decisions relating to them.
blueshift
a shift in the spectral lines of a stellar spectrum towards the blue end of the visible region relative to the wavelengths of these lines in the terrestrial spectrum: a result of the Doppler effect caused by stars approaching the solar system
gearshift
In a vehicle, the gearshift is the same as the → gear lever .
redshift
a shift in the lines of the spectrum of an astronomical object towards a longer wavelength (the red end of an optical spectrum), relative to the wavelength of these lines in the terrestrial spectrum, usually as a result of the Doppler effect caused by the recession of the object
shift one's ground/change one's ground
If you shift your ground or change your ground , you change the basis on which you are arguing .