Shift (sh&ibreve_;ft), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Shifting.] [OE. shiften, schiften, to divide, change, remove. AS. sciftan to divide; akin to LG. & D. schiften to divide, distinguish, part Icel. skipta to divide, to part, to shift, to change, Dan skifte, Sw. skifta, and probably to Icel. skīfa to cut into slices, as n., a slice, and to E. shive, sheave, n., shiver, n.] 1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion. [Obs.]
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To which God of his bounty would shift
Crowns two of flowers well smelling. Chaucer.
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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.
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Hastily he schifte him[self]. Piers Plowman.
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Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days,
Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways. Tusser.
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3. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to turn; as, to shift the helm or sails.
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Carrying the oar loose, [they] shift it hither and thither at pleasure. Sir W. Raleigh.
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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.
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I would advise you to shift a shirt. Shak.
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5. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively. [Obs.]
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As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to have patience to shift me. Shak.
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6. To put off or out of the way by some expedient. “I shifted him away.” Shak.
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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.
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Shift the scene for half an hour;
Time and place are in thy power. Swift.
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Shift (?), n. [Cf. Icel. skipti. See Shift, v. t.] 1. The act of shifting. Specifically: (a) The act of putting one thing in the place of another, or of changing the place of a thing; change; substitution.
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My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air. Sir H. Wotton.
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(b) A turning from one thing to another; hence, an expedient tried in difficulty; often, an evasion; a trick; a fraud. “Reduced to pitiable shifts.” Macaulay.
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I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away. Shak.
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Little souls on little shifts rely. Dryden.
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2. Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's under-garment; a chemise.
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3. The change of one set of workmen for another; hence, a spell, or turn, of work; also, a set of workmen who work in turn with other sets; as, a night shift.
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4. In building, the extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
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5. (Mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
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6. (Mus.) A change of the position of the hand on the finger board, in playing the violin.
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To make shift, to contrive or manage in an exigency. “I shall make shift to go without him.” Shak.
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[They] made a shift to keep their own in Ireland. Milton.
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