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shift

Pronunciation: /ˈʃɪft/

The English word “shift” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A movement to do something, a beginning.
  2. An act of shifting; a slight movement or change.
  3. A share, a portion assigned on division.
  4. A type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, a slip or chemise.
  5. A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.
  6. A change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time.
  7. The gear mechanism in a motor vehicle.
  8. A control code or character used to change between different character sets.
  9. An instance of the use of such a code or character.
  10. A bit shift.
  11. An infield shift.
  12. The act of kissing passionately.
  13. A contrivance, a device to try when other methods fail.
  14. A trick, an artifice.
  15. The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
  16. A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
  17. A mutation in which the DNA or RNA from two different sources (such as viruses or bacteria) combine.
  18. In violin-playing, any position of the left hand except that nearest the nut.
  19. A period of time in which one's consciousness resides in another reality, usually achieved through meditation or other means.
  20. be done; ruined

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-West Germanic *skiftijan, from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide,…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.