lift Definition
lift (lift)
transitive verb
- to bring up to a higher position; raise
- to pick up and move or set lift the box down from the shelf
- to hold up; support high in the air
- to raise in rank, condition, dignity, spirits, etc.; bring to a higher level; elevate; exalt
- to pay off (a mortgage, debt, etc.)
- to end (a blockade, siege, etc.) by withdrawing forces
- to revoke or rescind (a ban or order)
- to loosen and remove (bulbs, seedlings, or root crops) from the soil
- Informal to remove from its proper place; esp., to plagiarize to lift a passage from another writer
- Slang to steal
- to subject to a face-lift
- to transport, esp. by aircraft
- Golf to pick (a ball) up, as from an unplayable position
- 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
- to exert strength in raising or trying to raise something
- to rise and vanish; be dispelled the fog lifted
- to become raised or elevated; go up
- to stop for a time
noun
- a lifting, raising, or rising; upward movement
- the amount lifted at one time
- the distance through which something is lifted
- the extent of rise or elevation
- lifting power or influence
- elevation of spirits or mood
- elevated position or carriage, as of the neck, head, etc.
- a ride in the direction in which one is going
- help of any kind
- a swell or rise in the ground
- the means by which a person or thing is lifted; specif.,
- any layer of leather in the heel of a shoe
- Brit. elevator
- any of various devices used to transport people up or down a slope
- a device for lifting an automobile for repairs
- 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
- Mining a set of pumps in a mine
lift Related Forms
lift Idioms
lift up one's voice
to speak out loudly
lift Synonyms
lift
n.
lift Synonyms
lift
v.
lift, in its general literal sense, implies the use of some effort in bringing something up to a higher position help me lift the table; raise, often interchangeable with lift, may specifically imply bringing into an upright position by lifting one end to raise a flagpole; elevate is now a less frequent synonym for lift or raisethe balloon had been elevated 500 feet; rear is a literary equivalent of raisethe giant trees reared their branches to the sky; hoist implies the lifting of something heavy, usually by some mechanical means, as a block and tackle or a crane to hoist bales of cotton into a ship; boost is a colloquial term and implies lifting by or as if by a push from behind or below boost me into the tree. All these terms are used figuratively to imply bringing into a higher or better state to lift, or hoist, one's spirits, to raise one's hopes, to elevate one's mind, to rear children, to boost sales
lift Usage Examples
Object
- lid: Then, hardly daring to breathe, she slowly lifted the lid.
- sanction: The U.N. officials who administer the program in Baghdad say they would much prefer to lift the sanctions entirely.
- trophy: Even as Danny Blind lifted the trophy van Gaal seemed to sense the passing of a moment.
- embargo: We call for lifting the embargo on Iraq " .
- ban: The judge then lifted a press ban on naming the killers.
- finger: You won't have to lift a finger the whole time you're with us.
Converse of object
hitch: Car hire can be arranged by Hawk's Nest, but I hitched a lift with some other visitors.
Adjective modifier
- ski: In addition to the hotel's daily shuttle bus to the ski lifts, the public ski bus stops outside in the mornings.
- hydraulic: Disable visitors will have full access to the vehicle through a hydraulic lift located at the rear staircase.
- vertical: Wheelchair Access The entrance to Open Eye Gallery is above street level but is fitted with an external vertical platform lift.
Modifies a noun
- truck: An employe was crushed by a number of full pallets which fell from a side loader lift truck.
- shaft: New city fades up, MONITOR rises up through floor level lift shaft.
- coefficient: This is combined with the predicted increment in aerofoil lift coefficient to estimate the pitching moment coefficient increment.
- pass: Small & friendly resort great value lift pass & lots of skiing including the link to Italy.
Noun used with modifier
- stair: Am I eligible for an extension, shower, ramp, bath or stair lift in my home?
- fork: Met Steve and his fork lift with extending boom.
- gondola: Walkers can reach the mountains by gondola lift or rack-and-pinion railroad.
- wheelchair: Neither group is catered for by coaches with wheelchair lifts.
- ski: The nearest ski lift is just 5 minutes away.
- drag: My two 5-year olds spent many happy hours on the bottom nursery slope which has the smoothest drag lift I have ever experienced.
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