DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
100.26.140.179

Search for:
[Show options]
[Pronunciation] [Help] [Database Info] [Server Info]

1 definition found

From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 Shift v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Shifting.]
 1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion. [Obs.]
 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[self].   --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, [they] 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. [Obs.]
    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.”
 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.