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lift

See also: Lift

Contents

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • enPR: lĭft, IPA(key): /lɪft/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪft

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English lifte, luft, lefte (“air, sky, heaven”), from Old English lyft (“atmosphere, air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“roof, sky, air”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”). Cognate with Old High German luft (“air”) (German Luft), Dutch lucht (“air”), Old Norse lopt, loft (“upper room, sky, air”). More at loft.

NounEdit

lift (usually uncountable, plural lifts)

  1. (Britain dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Air.
  2. (Britain dialectal, chiefly Scotland) The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere.
SynonymsEdit
  • (gas or vapour breathed): air
  • (firmament, ethereal region surrounding the earth): atmosphere
  • (the heavens, sky): welkin

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English liften, lyften, from Old Norse lypta (“to lift, air”, literally “to raise in the air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną (“to raise in the air”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”). Cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål løfte (“to lift”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lyfta (“to lift”), German lüften (“to air, lift”), Old English lyft (“air”). See above. 1851 for the noun sense "a mechanical device for vertical transport".

VerbEdit

lift (third-person singular simple present lifts, present participle lifting, simple past lifted or (rare, regional, obsolete) lift, past participle lifted or (rare, regional, obsolete) lift or (obsolete) yleft)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To raise or rise.
    The fog eventually lifted, leaving the streets clear.
    You never lift a finger to help me!
    • c1490, Of Penance and Confession be master Jhon Yrlandː
      Liftand (lifting) thy hands and thy eyen to Heaven.
    • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
      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.
    • 2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8:
      Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on).
  2. (transitive, slang) To steal. (for this sense Cleasby suggests perhaps a relation to the root of Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌹𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 (hliftus) "thief", cognate with Latin cleptus and Greek κλέπτω (kléptō))[1]
    • 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 1227855:
      “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) To remove (a ban, restriction, etc.).
  4. (transitive) To alleviate, to lighten (pressure, tension, stress, etc.)
    • 2011 September 24, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      The Gunners boss has been heavily criticised for his side's poor start to the Premier League season but this result helps lift the pressure.
  5. (transitive) to cause to move upwards.
    • 2011 October 2, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2 - 0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport Wales‎[2]:
      Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic.
  6. (informal, intransitive) To lift weights; to weight-lift.
    She can lift twice her bodyweight.
  7. To try to raise something; to exert the strength for raising or bearing.
    • John Locke
      strained by lifting at a weight too heavy
  8. To elevate or improve in rank, condition, etc.; often with up.
    • Addison
      The Roman virtues lift up mortal man.
    • Bible, 1 Timothy iii. 6
      being lifted up with pride
  9. (obsolete) To bear; to support.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)
  10. To collect, as moneys due; to raise.
  11. (computing, programming) To transform (a function) into a corresponding function in a different context.

Usage notesEdit

Lift also has an obsolete form liftand for the present participle. The strong forms were common until the 17th century in writing and still survive in speech in a few rural dialects.

HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to lift weights — See also translations at weight-lift

ReferencesEdit

NounEdit

lift (plural lifts)

  1. An act of lifting or raising.
  2. The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip.
    He gave me a lift to the bus station.
  3. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) Mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building; an elevator.
    Take the lift to the fourth floor.
  4. An upward force, such as the force that keeps aircraft aloft.
  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 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. An improvement in mood.
    • November 17 2012, BBC Sport: Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham [3]
      The dismissal of a player who left Arsenal for Manchester City before joining Tottenham gave the home players and fans a noticeable lift.
  10. The space or distance through which anything is lifted.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
  11. A rise; a degree of elevation.
    the lift of a lock in canals
  12. A lift gate.
  13. (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.
  14. (engineering) One of the steps of a cone pulley.
  15. (shoemaking) A layer of leather in the heel of a shoe.
  16. (horology) That portion of the vibration of a balance during which the impulse is given.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Saunier to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for lift in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
thief — see thief
lift gate — see lift gate
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
ReferencesEdit
  • “lift” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.
  1. ^ Hlenni in Cleasby/Vigfusson An Icelandic-English Dictionary (1874) p. 270
See alsoEdit

AnagramsEdit

DanishEdit

NounEdit

lift n (singular definite liftet, plural indefinite lift)

  1. The non-commercial act of transporting someone in a vehicle: ride
  2. boost

InflectionEdit

Declension of lift
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative lift liftet lift liftene
genitive lifts liftets lifts liftenes

NounEdit

lift c (singular definite liften, plural indefinite lifte or lifter)

  1. carrycot
  2. elevator
  3. lift

InflectionEdit

Declension of lift
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative lift liften lifte
lifter 		liftene
lifterne
genitive lifts liftens liftes
lifters 		liftenes
lifternes

DutchEdit

 
Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

EtymologyEdit

From English lift.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

lift m (plural liften, diminutive liftje n)

  1. lift, elevator
  2. free ride, lift

VerbEdit

lift

  1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of liften
  2. imperative of liften

HungarianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from English lift.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): [ˈlift]
  • Hyphenation: lift

NounEdit

lift (plural liftek)

  1. lift, elevator

DeclensionEdit

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
singular plural
nominative lift liftek
accusative liftet lifteket
dative liftnek lifteknek
instrumental lifttel liftekkel
causal-final liftért liftekért
translative liftté liftekké
terminative liftig liftekig
essive-formal liftként liftekként
essive-modal — —
inessive liftben liftekben
superessive liften lifteken
adessive liftnél lifteknél
illative liftbe liftekbe
sublative liftre liftekre
allative lifthez liftekhez
elative liftből liftekből
delative liftről liftekről
ablative lifttől liftektől
Possessive forms of lift
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. liftem liftjeim
2nd person sing. lifted liftjeid
3rd person sing. liftje liftjei
1st person plural liftünk liftjeink
2nd person plural liftetek liftjeitek
3rd person plural liftjük liftjeik

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

(Compound words):

ItalianEdit

NounEdit

lift m (invariable)

  1. lift / elevator operator
  2. (tennis) topspin

Derived termsEdit

Serbo-CroatianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English lift.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

lȉft m (Cyrillic spelling ли̏фт)

  1. lift, elevator

DeclensionEdit

Declension of lift
singular plural
nominative lȉft lìftovi
genitive lifta lìftōvā
dative liftu liftovima
accusative lift liftove
vocative lifte liftovi
locative liftu liftovima
instrumental liftom liftovima

SynonymsEdit

SlovakEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English lift.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

lift m (genitive singular liftu, nominative plural lifty, genitive plural liftov, declension pattern of dub)

  1. (colloquial) an elevator, lift

DeclensionEdit

Declension of lift
singular plural
nominative lift lifty
genitive liftu liftov
dative liftu liftom
accusative lift lifty
locative lifte liftoch
instrumental liftom liftami, liftmi

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Further readingEdit

  • lift in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

VolapükEdit

NounEdit

lift (plural lifts)

  1. elevator
  2. altitude adjustor

DeclensionEdit

declension of lift
singular plural
nominative lift lifts
genitive lifta liftas
dative lifte liftes
accusative lifti liftis
vocative 1 o lift! o lifts!
predicative 2 liftu liftus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in some later, non-classical Volapük only
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