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Lift

//lɪft// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun

1
An act of lifting or raising. countable, uncountable
2
Air. Scotland, UK, dialectal, uncountable, usually
3
the act of raising something wordnet
4
The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip. countable, uncountable
"He gave me a lift to the bus station."
5
The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere. Scotland, UK, dialectal, uncountable, usually
"No, no, Leddy! the sun maun be up in the lift whan I venture to her den."

Show 28 more definitions

6
a ride in a car wordnet
7
Mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building. Australia, India, New-Zealand, UK, countable, uncountable
"Take the lift to the fourth floor."
8
transportation of people or goods by air (especially when other means of access are unavailable) wordnet
9
An upward force; especially, the force (generated by wings, rotary wings, or airfoils) that keeps aircraft aloft. countable, uncountable
10
plastic surgery to remove wrinkles and other signs of aging from your face; an incision is made near the hair line and skin is pulled back and excess tissue is excised wordnet
11
The difference in elevation between the upper pool and lower pool of a waterway, separated by lock. countable, uncountable
12
the act of giving temporary assistance wordnet
13
A thief. countable, historical, slang, uncountable
"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."
14
lifting device consisting of a platform or cage that is raised and lowered mechanically in a vertical shaft in order to move people from one floor to another in a building wordnet
15
The lifting of a dance partner into the air. countable, uncountable
16
one of the layers forming the heel of a shoe or boot wordnet
17
Permanent construction with a built-in platform that is lifted vertically. countable, uncountable
18
a device worn in a shoe or boot to make the wearer look taller or to correct a shortened leg wordnet
19
An improvement in mood. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"The news rocked us, especially since we were anticipating a lift for our spirits under the grim circumstances."
20
a powered conveyance that carries skiers up a hill wordnet
21
The amount or weight to be lifted. countable, uncountable
"What's the maximum lift of this crane?"
22
a wave that lifts the surface of the water or ground wordnet
23
The space or distance through which anything is lifted. countable, uncountable
24
the event of something being raised upward wordnet
25
A rise; a degree of elevation. countable, uncountable
"the lift of a lock in canals"
26
the component of the aerodynamic forces acting on an airfoil that opposes gravity wordnet
27
A liftgate. countable, uncountable
28
A rope leading from the masthead to the extremity of a yard below, and used for raising or supporting the end of the yard. countable, uncountable
29
One of the steps of a cone pulley. countable, uncountable
30
A layer of leather in the heel of a shoe. countable, uncountable
31
That portion of the vibration of a balance during which the impulse is given. countable, uncountable
"some measure the total lift and others only the lift on one side, a quantity which is not exactly half of the total lift"
32
A morphism which some given morphism factors through; i.e. given a pair of morphisms f:X→Y and g:Z→Y, a morphism h such that f=g∘h. (In this case h is said to be a lift of f via Z or via g). countable, uncountable
"For a covering space p#58;#92;tildeX#92;toX a path #92;gamma [i.e. a continuous map #91;0,1#93;#92;toX] in X has a unique lift #92;tilde#92;gamma starting at a given point of p#123;-1#125;(#92;gamma(0))"
33
A shorter extract from a commercial/advertisement, able to be used on its own. countable, uncountable

Verb

1
To raise or rise. ambitransitive
"The fog eventually lifted, leaving the streets clear."
2
perform cosmetic surgery on someone's face wordnet
3
To raise or rise.; To cause to move upwards. ambitransitive, transitive
"Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic."
4
remove from a surface wordnet
5
To steal. slang, transitive
"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."

Show 36 more definitions

6
take off or away by decreasing wordnet
7
To source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise. slang, transitive
"Based on a similarity across a range of Anglo-Indian entries in these three dictionaries, it appears that (along with other lexis) Barrère and Leland (1898) copied this entry from Hotten (1864), who had in turn lifted it directly from Stocqueler (1848)."
8
remove from a seedbed or from a nursery wordnet
9
To arrest (a person). slang, transitive
"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."
10
remove (hair) by scalping wordnet
11
To remove (a ban, restriction, etc.). transitive
12
put an end to a situation wordnet
13
To alleviate, to lighten (pressure, tension, stress, etc.) transitive
"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."
14
rise upward, as from pressure or moisture wordnet
15
To disperse, to break up. Scotland, especially, intransitive
"About three o'clock in the mornin', the company began to lift, and the room to get thinner and thinner."
16
raise in rank or condition wordnet
17
To lift weights; to weight-lift. informal, intransitive
"She lifts twice a week at the gym."
18
invigorate or heighten wordnet
19
To try to raise something; to exert the strength for raising or bearing.
"strained by lifting at a weight too heavy"
20
call to stop the hunt or to retire, as of hunting dogs wordnet
21
To elevate or improve in rank, condition, etc.; often with up.
"The Roman virtues lift up mortal man."
22
cancel officially wordnet
23
To bear; to support. obsolete
"Th' earth him underneath Did grone, as feeble so great load to lift."
24
make audible wordnet
25
To collect, as moneys due; to raise.
26
take (root crops) out of the ground wordnet
27
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∘h; cf. lift n.etymology 1 18) transitive
28
fly people or goods to or from places not accessible by other means wordnet
29
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∘h; cf. lift n.etymology 1 18); To transform (a function) into a corresponding function in a different context. transitive
"Finally, we can lift a partial function into a regular (total) function that returns an Option or a Some(value) when the partial function is defined for the input argument or None when it isn't."
30
raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help wordnet
31
To buy a security or other asset previously offered for sale.
32
take hold of something and move it to a different location wordnet
33
To take (hounds) off the existing scent and move them to another spot. transitive
"I lifted the hounds (hoping to catch the leading ones there) to the far side of Hallaton Thorns."
34
move upward wordnet
35
move upwards wordnet
36
raise from a lower to a higher position wordnet
37
make off with belongings of others wordnet
38
take illegally wordnet
39
take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual property wordnet
40
pay off (a mortgage) wordnet
41
rise up wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”), related to *luftuz (“roof, air”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”) or from a root meaning roof (see *luftuz). 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". (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)).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From Middle English lifte, luft, lefte (“air, sky, heaven”), from Old English lyft (“atmosphere, air”), from Proto-West Germanic *luftu, 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”). Doublet of loft and luft.

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