Definition of: shift

(shift) v.t.
1. To change or move from one position, place, etc., to another.
2. To change for another or others of the same class.
3. To change (gears) from one arrangement to another.
4. Ling. To alter phonetically as part of a systematic change.
—v.i.
5. To change position, place, etc.
6. To try varied expedients; do the best one can; manage.
7. To evade; equivocate.
8. To shift gears: The car shifts automatically.
—noun
1. The act of shifting.
2. A recourse or contrivance adopted in the absence of direct means: We'll make shift to get along; hence, a dodge; artifice; trick; evasion.
3. Archaic or Dial. An undergarment; chemise.
4. A change of clothes.
5. A change of place, direction, or form: a shift in the wind; transfer, as of a burden.
6. A change of the position of the hand when playing on the fingerboard of an instrument of the viol class.
7. A relay of workers; also, the working time of each group.
8. Physics Any of various displacements of spectral lines caused by velocity of the light source, gravitational effect, etc. Compare EINSTEIN SHIFT, DOPPLER EFFECT.
9. Geol. The relative displacement of areas on opposite sides of a rock fault and outside of the zone of dislocation.
10. Ling. a A patterned phonetic or phonemic change, as the consonant shift described in Grimm's Law. b Functional shift. See synonyms under CHANGE, CONVEY. [OE sciftan divide]
—shift′er noun