lift

• enPR: lĭft, IPA^(key): /lɪft/

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• Rhymes: -ɪft

From Middle English lifte, luft, lefte (“air, sky, heaven”), from Old English lyft (“atmosphere, air”), 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”). More at loft.

lift (usually uncountable, plural lifts)

1. (Britain dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Air.
2. (Britain dialectal, chiefly Scotland) The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere.

• (gas or vapour breathed): air
• (firmament, ethereal region surrounding the earth): atmosphere
• (the heavens, sky): welkin

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”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”). 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".

lift (third-person singular simple present lifts, present participle lifting, simple past lifted or (rare, regional, obsolete) lift, past participle lifted or (rare, regional, obsolete) lift or (obsolete) yleft)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To raise or rise.

   The fog eventually lifted, leaving the streets clear.

   You never lift a finger to help me!

   • c1490, Of Penance and Confession be master Jhon Yrlandː

     Liftand (lifting) thy hands and thy eyen to Heaven.

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     Their walk had continued not more than ten minutes when they crossed a creek by a wooden bridge and came to a row of mean houses standing flush with the street. At the door of one, an old black woman had stooped to lift a large basket, piled high with laundered clothes.

   • 2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8:

     Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on).

2. (transitive, slang) 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))[1]
   • Rudyard Kipling, The Ballad of East and West

     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.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     “Wilbert Cream is a ... what's the word?” I referred to the letter. “A kleptomaniac [...] Does any thought occur to you?” “It most certainly does. I am thinking of your uncle's collection of old silver.” “Me, too.” “It presents a grave temptation to the unhappy young man.” “I don't know that I'd call him unhappy. He probably thoroughly enjoys lifting the stuff.”

3. (transitive) To remove (a ban, restriction, etc.).
4. (transitive) To alleviate, to lighten (pressure, tension, stress, etc.)
   • 2011 September 24, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport‎:

     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.

5. (transitive) to cause to move upwards.
   • 2011 October 2, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2 - 0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport Wales‎:

     Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic.

6. (informal, intransitive) To lift weights; to weight-lift.

   She lifts twice a week at the gym.

7. To try to raise something; to exert the strength for raising or bearing.
   • John Locke

     strained by lifting at a weight too heavy

8. To elevate or improve in rank, condition, etc.; often with up.
   • Addison

     The Roman virtues lift up mortal man.

   • Bible, 1 Timothy iii. 6

     being lifted up with pride

9. (obsolete) To bear; to support.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

10. To collect, as moneys due; to raise.
11. (computing, programming) To transform (a function) into a corresponding function in a different context.
12. (finance) To buy a security or other asset previously offered for sale.

Lift also has an obsolete form liftand for the present participle. The strong forms were common until the 17th century in writing and still survive in speech in a few rural dialects.

• airlift

• airlifted
• lift-off
• lifting

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

lift (plural lifts)

1. An act of lifting or raising.
2. The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip.

   He gave me a lift to the bus station.

3. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) Mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building; an elevator.

   Take the lift to the fourth floor.

4. An upward force, such as the force that keeps aircraft aloft.
5. (measurement) the difference in elevation between the upper pool and lower pool of a waterway, separated by lock.
6. (historical slang) A thief.
   • 1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society 2006, page 32:

     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.

7. (dance) The lifting of a dance partner into the air.
8. Permanent construction with a built-in platform that is lifted vertically.
9. An improvement in mood.
   • November 17 2012, BBC Sport: Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham

     The dismissal of a player who left Arsenal for Manchester City before joining Tottenham gave the home players and fans a noticeable lift.

10. The space or distance through which anything is lifted.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

11. A rise; a degree of elevation.

    the lift of a lock in canals

12. A lift gate.
13. (nautical) A rope leading from the masthead to the extremity of a yard below, and used for raising or supporting the end of the yard.
14. (engineering) One of the steps of a cone pulley.
15. (shoemaking) A layer of leather in the heel of a shoe.
16. (horology) That portion of the vibration of a balance during which the impulse is given.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Saunier to this entry?)

• (mechanical device) elevator (US)
• (act of transporting) ride
• (upward force) uplift

• “lift” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

• escalator

• ILTF, flit

lift n (singular definite liftet, plural indefinite lift)

1. The non-commercial act of transporting someone in a vehicle: ride
2. boost

lift c (singular definite liften, plural indefinite lifte or lifter)

1. carrycot
2. elevator
3. lift

From English lift.

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lift m (plural liften, diminutive liftje n)

1. lift, elevator
2. free ride, lift

lift

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of liften
2. imperative of liften

Borrowed from English lift.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlift]
• Hyphenation: lift

lift (plural liftek)

1. lift, elevator

• felvonó (dated)
• páternoszter (a slow, continuously moving lift or elevator)

• liftes
• liftezik

(Compound words):

• személyzeti lift (lift/elevator for staff)
• beteglift (lift/elevator for patients in hospitals)
• sílift
• teherlift

lift m (invariable)

1. lift / elevator operator
2. (tennis) topspin

• liftare

From English lift.

• IPA^(key): /lîft/

lȉft m (Cyrillic spelling ли̏фт)

1. lift, elevator

• dȉzalo

From English lift.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlift/

lift m (genitive singular liftu, nominative plural lifty, genitive plural liftov, declension pattern of dub)

1. (colloquial) an elevator, lift

• výťah

• liftový

• lift in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

lift (plural lifts)

1. elevator
2. altitude adjustor