lift Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the act of giving temporary assistance
  2. noun the component of the aerodynamic forces acting on an airfoil that opposes gravity
    aerodynamic lift.
  3. noun the event of something being raised upward
    elevation; raising.
    • an elevation of the temperature in the afternoon
    • a raising of the land resulting from volcanic activity
  4. noun a wave that lifts the surface of the water or ground
    rise.
  5. noun a powered conveyance that carries skiers up a hill
    ski tow; ski lift.
  6. noun a device worn in a shoe or boot to make the wearer look taller or to correct a shortened leg
  7. noun one of the layers forming the heel of a shoe or boot
  8. noun lifting device consisting of a platform or cage that is raised and lowered mechanically in a vertical shaft in order to move people from one floor to another in a building
    elevator.
  9. noun plastic surgery to remove wrinkles and other signs of aging from your face; an incision is made near the hair line and skin is pulled back and excess tissue is excised
    face lift; nip and tuck; rhytidectomy; rhytidoplasty; facelift; face lifting; cosmetic surgery.
    • some actresses have more than one face lift
  10. noun transportation of people or goods by air (especially when other means of access are unavailable)
    airlift.
  11. noun a ride in a car
    • he gave me a lift home
  12. noun the act of raising something
    heave; raise.
    • he responded with a lift of his eyebrow
    • fireman learn several different raises for getting ladders up
  13. verb raise from a lower to a higher position
    elevate; get up; bring up; raise.
    • Raise your hands
    • Lift a load
  14. verb take hold of something and move it to a different location
    • lift the box onto the table
  15. verb move upwards
    raise.
    • lift one's eyes
  16. verb move upward
    come up; rise; uprise; go up; arise; move up.
    • The fog lifted
    • The smoke arose from the forest fire
    • The mist uprose from the meadows
  17. verb make audible
    • He lifted a war whoop
  18. verb cancel officially
    annul; revoke; reverse; countermand; vacate; overturn; repeal; rescind.
    • He revoked the ban on smoking
    • lift an embargo
    • vacate a death sentence
  19. verb make off with belongings of others
    pilfer; filch; pinch; abstract; swipe; sneak; purloin; hook; snarf; cabbage; nobble.
  20. verb raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help
    hoist; wind.
    • hoist the bicycle onto the roof of the car
  21. verb invigorate or heighten
    raise.
    • lift my spirits
    • lift his ego
  22. verb raise in rank or condition
    elevate; raise.
    • The new law lifted many people from poverty
  23. verb take off or away by decreasing
    • lift the pressure
  24. verb rise up
    rise; rear.
    • The building rose before them
  25. verb pay off (a mortgage)
  26. verb take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual property
    plagiarize; plagiarise.
  27. verb take illegally
    rustle.
    • rustle cattle
  28. verb fly people or goods to or from places not accessible by other means
    airlift.
    • Food is airlifted into Bosnia
  29. verb take (root crops) out of the ground
    • lift potatoes
  30. verb call to stop the hunt or to retire, as of hunting dogs
  31. verb rise upward, as from pressure or moisture
    • The floor is lifting slowly
  32. verb put an end to
    raise.
    • lift a ban
    • raise a siege
  33. verb remove (hair) by scalping
  34. verb remove from a seedbed or from a nursery
    • lift the tulip bulbs
  35. verb remove from a surface
    • the detective carefully lifted some fingerprints from the table
  36. verb perform cosmetic surgery on someone's face
    face-lift.

WordNet

Lift noun
Etymology
AS.lyft air. See Loft.
Definitions
  1. The sky; the atmosphere; the firmament. Obs. or Scot.
Lift transitive verb
Etymology
Icel. lypta, fr. lopt air; akin to Sw.lyfta to lift, Dan. löfte, G. lüften; -- prop., to raise into the air. See Loft, and cf. 1st Lift.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Lifted; present participle & verbal noun Lifting
Definitions
  1. To move in a direction opposite to that of gravitation; to raise; to elevate; to bring up from a lower place to a higher; to upheave; sometimes implying a continued support or holding in the higher place; -- said of material things; as, to lift the foot or the hand; to lift a chair or a burden.
  2. To raise, elevate, exalt, improve, in rank, condition, estimation, character, etc.; -- often with up.
    The Roman virtues lift up mortal man. Addison.
    Lest, being lifted up with pride. I Tim. iii. 6.
  3. To bear; to support. Obs. Spenser.
  4. To collect, as moneys due; to raise.
  5. Perh. a different word, and akin to Goth. hliftus thief, hlifan to steal, L. clepere, Gr. . Cf. Shoplifter. To steal; to carry off by theft (esp. cattle); as, to lift a drove of cattle. ✍ In old writers, lift is sometimes used for lifted.
    He ne'er lift up his hand but conquered. Shak.
Lift intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To try to raise something; to exert the strength for raising or bearing.
    Strained by lifting at a weight too heavy. Locke.
  2. To rise; to become or appear raised or elevated; as, the fog lifts; the land lifts to a ship approaching it.
  3. See Lift, v. t., 5. To live by theft. Spenser.
Lift noun
Definitions
  1. Act of lifting; also, that which is lifted.
  2. The space or distance through which anything is lifted; as, a long lift. Bacon.
  3. Help; assistance, as by lifting; as, to give one a lift in a wagon. Colloq.
    The goat gives the fox a lift. L'Estrange.
    3b. a ride in a vehicle, given by the vehicle's owner to another person as a favor -- usually in "give a lift" or "got a lift", as "Jack gave me a lift into town."
  4. That by means of which a person or thing lifts or is lifted; as: (a) A hoisting machine; an elevator; a dumb waiter. (b) An exercising machine.
  5. A rise; a degree of elevation; as, the lift of a lock in canals.
  6. A lift gate. See Lift gate, below. Prov. Eng.
  7. (Naut.) A rope leading from the masthead to the extremity of a yard below; -- used for raising or supporting the end of the yard.
  8. (Mach.) One of the steps of a cone pulley.
  9. (Shoemaking) A layer of leather in the heel.
  10. (Horology) That portion of the vibration of a balance during which the impulse is given. Saunier.

Webster 1913