Definition of 'shift'
Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense shifts
, present participle shifting
, past tense, past participle shifted
1. verb
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
[British]
5. verb
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.
7. See also shifting
Phrasal verbs:
See shift down
See shift up
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
shift in British English
verb
1.
to move or cause to move from one place or position to another
2. (transitive)
to change for another or others
8. (intransitive) slang
to move quickly
noun
10.
the act or an instance of shifting
12.
the period of time worked by such a group
13.
15.
an underskirt or dress with little shaping
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
shifter (ˈshifter) noun
Word origin
Old English sciftan; related to Old Norse skipta to divide, Middle Low German schiften, to separate
Word Frequency
shift in American English
verb transitive
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
verb intransitive
8.
to use tricky, evasive, or expedient methods
9. US
to change from one gear arrangement to another
10.
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.
16.
b.
the regular work period of such a group
17.
a change in direction, as of the wind
19. Chiefly Dialectal
a change of clothing
20. US, American Football
21. Linguistics
a phonetic change or series of changes that alters the system of sounds in a language
see also Great Vowel ShiftIdioms:
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Derived forms
shiftable (ˈshiftable)
adjective
shifter (ˈshifter)
noun
Word Frequency
shift in American English
(ʃɪft)
transitive verb
1.
to put (something) aside and replace it by another or others; change or exchange
to shift friends
to shift ideas
2.
to transfer from one place, position, person, etc., to another
to shift the blame onto someone else
4. Linguistics
to change in a systematic way, esp. phonetically
5. See shift gears
intransitive verb
6.
to move from one place, position, direction, etc., to another
7.
to manage to get along or succeed by oneself
8.
to get along by indirect methods; use any expediency, trick, or evasion to get along or succeed
He shifted through life
9.
to change gears in driving an automobile
10. Linguistics
to undergo a systematic, esp. phonetic, change
11.
12. archaic
to change one's clothes
noun
SYNONYMS 1. substitute. 23. contrivance, resource, resort. 24. wile, ruse, subterfuge, stratagem.13.
a change or transfer from one place, position, direction, person, etc., to another
a shift in the wind
14.
a person's scheduled period of work, esp. the portion of the day scheduled as a day's work when a shop, service, office, or industry operates continuously during both the day and night
She prefers the morning shift
15.
a group of workers scheduled to work during such a period
The night shift reported
16. Baseball
a notable repositioning by several fielders to the left or the right of their normal playing position, an occasional strategy against batters who usually hit the ball to the same side of the field
17. Automobiles
a gearshift
18. Clothing
a.
a straight, loose-fitting dress worn with or without a belt
b.
a woman's chemise or slip
19. American Football
21. Music
a change in the position of the left hand on the fingerboard in playing a stringed instrument
22. Linguistics
a.
23.
an expedient; ingenious device
24.
an evasion, artifice, or trick
25.
change or substitution
28.
an act or instance of using the shift key, as on a typewriter keyboard
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
shiftingly adverb
shiftingness
noun
Word origin
[bef. 1000; (v.) ME shiften to arrange, OE sciftan; c. G schichten to arrange in order, ON skipta to divide; (n.) ME: contrivance, start, deriv. of the v.]
shift
articles of clothing articles of clothing dress underwearQuick word challenge
Quiz Review
Question: 1
-
Score: 0 / 5
Which article of clothing am I?
a blanket-like shawl often of brightly-coloured wool worn by men in Latin America
Which article of clothing am I?
an Arab's outer garment of cotton, wool, or silk, for the head and body
Which article of clothing am I?
a suit of workman's overalls made of this material consisting of trousers with a bib attached
Which article of clothing am I?
a long coat of mail, often sleeveless
Which article of clothing am I?
a band, usually of elastic, worn round the arm or leg to hold up a shirtsleeve, sock, or stocking
Your score:
Examples of 'shift' in a sentence
shift
Example sentences from the Collins Corpus
These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content that does not reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company HarperCollins.
We welcome feedback: report an example sentence to the Collins team. Read more…
We developed ways to lower risks related to fatigue and overfatigue caused by shift
work.
He suggested this could mean train drivers swabbing out carriages at the end of a
shift.
The editor writes of a very significant shift in the balance of piety from otherworldliness
to a this-worldly focus.
At boundaries, these phases accumulate allowing plasmon waves that reflect off to
experience a nonreciprocal parallel shift.
But the shift is real and more dramatic than current events might indicate.
We report a rest potential shift for a nonmagnetic electrode in a magnetic field.
What virologists fear is a different process, called antigenic shift or reassortment,
which has driven previous pandemics.
His team have been briefing that this shift is possible because the centre ground
is migrating leftwards.
In both groups general anaesthesia caused a ventilation shift towards the nondependent
lungs which was not further intensified after pneumoperitoneum.
For a downtime look, she'd wear her shift with neon high-tops.
Example sentences from Collins dictionaries
These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content that does not reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company HarperCollins.
We welcome feedback: report an example sentence to the Collins team. Read more…
a shift in policy
I couldn't shift the wardrobe on my own.
some have problems making the shift from one culture to another
There has been a shift of the elderly to this state.
Please would you help me shift the table over to the window?
The computer senses when you shift position.
...the afternoon shift.
He turned up on time for his shift.
can you shift over a bit?
His shift starts at 8 o'clock.
Trends of
shift
View usage for:
Source: Google Books Ngram Viewer
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 /ˈʃɪft/
- 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: การปรับ
- 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 /ˈmuv/
- 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: ขยับ
- Turkish: yer değiştirmek
- Ukrainian: переміщувати(ся)
- Vietnamese: di chuyển
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shift
Source
Definition of shift from the Collins English Dictionary
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