lift
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English liften, lyften, from Old Norse lypta, from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną, related to *luftuz ("roof, air"), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- or from a root meaning roof (see *luftuz).

Verb

lift (lifts, present participle lifting; simple past and past participle lifted)

  1. (ambitransitive) To raise or rise.
    The fog eventually lifted, leaving the streets clear.
    You never lift a finger to help me!
    • c. 1490, Of Penance and Confession be master Jhon Yrlandː
      Liftand (lifting) thy hands and thy eyen to Heaven.
    • 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC ↗:
      Their walk had continued not more than ten minutes when they crossed a creek by a wooden bridge and came to a row of mean houses standing flush with the street. At the door of one, an old black woman had stooped to lift a large basket, piled high with laundered clothes.
  2. (transitive, slang) To steal.
    • 1919, Rudyard Kipling, The Ballad of East and West:
      Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border side,
      And he has lifted the Colonel's mare that is the Colonel's pride.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC ↗:
      “Wilbert Cream is a ... what's the word?” I referred to the letter. “A kleptomaniac […] Does any thought occur to you?” “It most certainly does. I am thinking of your uncle's collection of old silver.” “Me, too.” “It presents a grave temptation to the unhappy young man.” “I don't know that I'd call him unhappy. He probably thoroughly enjoys lifting the stuff.”
  3. (transitive, slang) To source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise.
  4. (transitive, slang) To arrest (a person).
    • 2000, Marie Smyth, Marie-Therese Fay, Personal Accounts From Northern Ireland's Troubles:
      Maybe the police lifted him and he's in Castlereagh [Interrogation Centre] because he'd been lifted three or four times previously and took to Castlereagh. They used to come in and raid the house and take him away.
  5. (transitive) To remove (a ban, restriction, etc.).
  6. (transitive) To alleviate, to lighten (pressure, tension, stress, etc.)
  7. (transitive) to cause to move upwards.
  8. (informal, intransitive) To lift weights; to weight-lift.
    She lifts twice a week at the gym.
  9. To try to raise something; to exert the strength for raising or bearing.
    • a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC ↗:
      strained by lifting at a weight too heavy
  10. To elevate or improve in rank, condition, etc.; often with up.
    • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC ↗, Act I, scene i, page 1 ↗:
      The Roman virtues lift up mortal man.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, 1 Timothy 3:6 ↗:
      being lifted up with pride
  11. (obsolete) To bear; to support.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗:
      Th' earth him underneath
      Did grone, as feeble so great load to lift.
  12. To collect, as moneys due; to raise.
  13. (programming) To transform (a function) into a corresponding function in a different context.
  14. (finance) To buy a security or other asset previously offered for sale.
  15. (hunting, transitive) To take (hounds) off the existing scent and move them to another spot.
    • 1885, Lina Chaworth Musters, Book of Hunting Songs and Sport, page 144:
      I lifted the hounds (hoping to catch the leading ones there) to the far side of Hallaton Thorns.
  16. (category theory, transitive) Given morphisms f and g with the same target: To produce a morphism which the given morphism factors through (i.e. a morphism h such that f = g \circ h; c.f. lift n.)
Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

lift

  1. An act of lifting or raising.
  2. The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip.
    Synonyms: ride
    He gave me a lift to the bus station.
    • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC ↗:
      Accordingly, in spite of many grumbles and remonstrances from Summerlee, I ordered an additional tube, which was placed with the other in his motor-car, for he had offered me a lift to Victoria.
  3. (UK, Australia, New Zealand) Mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building.
    Synonyms: elevator
    Take the lift to the fourth floor.
  4. An upward force; especially, the force (generated by wings, rotary wings, or airfoils) that keeps aircraft aloft.
    Coordinate term: liftup
  5. (measurement) The difference in elevation between the upper pool and lower pool of a waterway, separated by lock.
  6. (historical slang) A thief.
    • 1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society, published 2006, page 32:
      The lift came into the shop dressed like a country gentleman, but was careful not to have a cloak about him, so that the tradesman could see he had no opportunity to conceal any goods about his person.
  7. (dance) The lifting of a dance partner into the air.
  8. Permanent construction with a built-in platform that is lifted vertically.
  9. (figurative) An improvement in mood.
  10. The amount or weight to be lifted.
    What's the maximum lift of this crane?
  11. The space or distance through which anything is lifted.
  12. A rise; a degree of elevation.
    the lift of a lock in canals
  13. A liftgate.
  14. (nautical) A rope leading from the masthead to the extremity of a yard below, and used for raising or supporting the end of the yard.
  15. (engineering) One of the steps of a cone pulley.
  16. (shoemaking) A layer of leather in the heel of a shoe.
  17. (horology) That portion of the vibration of a balance during which the impulse is given.
  18. (category theory) A morphism which some given morphism factors through; i.e. given a pair of morphisms f:X \to Y and g:Z \to Y, a morphism h such that f = g \circ h. ().
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English lifte, luft, lefte, from Old English lyft, from Proto-West Germanic *luftu, from Proto-Germanic *luftuz, from Proto-Indo-European *lewp-.

Cognate with Old High German luft (German Luft), Dutch lucht, Old Norse lopt. Doublet of loft and luft.

Noun

lift (uncountable)

  1. (UK dialectal, chiefly, Scotland) Air.
  2. (UK dialectal, chiefly, Scotland) The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere.
    • 1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, act 1, page 13:
      No, no, Leddy! the sun maun be up in the lift whan I venture to her den.
Synonyms
  • (gas or vapour breathed) air
  • (firmament, ethereal region surrounding the earth) atmosphere
  • (the heavens, sky) welkin



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