lever

A lever is a tool, usually a bar, used to lift or pry open something. (noun)

An example of a lever is a crowbar.

A lever is a bar used to control a machine. (noun)

An example of a lever is a stick shift in a car with a manual transmission.

Lever is a means to get something. (noun)

An example of a lever is a family connection which might be used to get admitted to a school.

See lever in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a bar used as a pry
a means to an end
Mech. a device consisting of a bar turning about a fixed point, the fulcrum, using power or force applied at a second point to lift or sustain a weight at a third point; hence, any handle or the like used to operate something

transitive verb

See lever in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(lĕvˈər, lēˈvər)

noun

A simple machine consisting of a rigid bar pivoted on a fixed point and used to transmit force, as in raising or moving a weight at one end by pushing down on the other.
A projecting handle used to adjust or operate a mechanism.
A means of accomplishing; a tool: used friendship as a lever to obtain advancement.

transitive verb lev·ered, lev·er·ing, lev·ers

To move or lift with or as if with a lever.

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