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lift definition

lift (lift)

transitive verb

  1. to bring up to a higher position; raise
  2. to pick up and move or set lift the box down from the shelf
  3. to hold up; support high in the air
  4. to raise in rank, condition, dignity, spirits, etc.; bring to a higher level; elevate; exalt
  5. to pay off (a mortgage, debt, etc.)
  6. to end (a blockade, siege, etc.) by withdrawing forces
  7. to revoke or rescind (a ban or order)
  8. to loosen and remove (bulbs, seedlings, or root crops) from the soil
  9. Informal to remove from its proper place; esp., to plagiarize to lift a passage from another writer
  10. Slang to steal
  11. to subject to a face-lift
  12. to transport, esp. by aircraft
  13. Golf to pick (a ball) up, as from an unplayable position
  14. Mil. to change the direction of or cease (fire)

Etymology: ME liften < ON lypta < lopt, air, akin to OE lyft, Ger luft, Du lucht

intransitive verb

  1. to exert strength in raising or trying to raise something
  2. to rise and vanish; be dispelled the fog lifted
  3. to become raised or elevated; go up
  4. to stop for a time

noun

  1. a lifting, raising, or rising; upward movement
  2. the amount lifted at one time
    1. the distance through which something is lifted
    2. the extent of rise or elevation
  3. lifting power or influence
  4. elevation of spirits or mood
  5. elevated position or carriage, as of the neck, head, etc.
  6. a ride in the direction in which one is going
  7. help of any kind
  8. a swell or rise in the ground
  9. the means by which a person or thing is lifted; specif.,
    1. any layer of leather in the heel of a shoe
    2. Brit. elevator
    3. any of various devices used to transport people up or down a slope
    4. a device for lifting an automobile for repairs
  10. Aeron. the component of total air force acting on a body, as an airfoil or wing, which is perpendicular to the direction of flight and is exerted, normally, in an upward direction
  11. Mining a set of pumps in a mine

Related Forms:

lift Idioms

lift up one's voice

to speak out loudly

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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