v. i.
Some this, some that, as that him liketh shift. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]
The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]
Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave their companions to shift as well as they can. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]
All those schoolmen, though they were exceeding witty, yet better teach all their followers to shift, than to resolve by their distinctions. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ Cf. Icel. skipti. See Shift, v. t. ]
My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]
I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
Little souls on little shifts rely. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]
To make shift,
v. t.
To which God of his bounty would shift
Crowns two of flowers well smelling. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]
Hastily he schifte him[ self ]. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]
Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days,
Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways. Tusser. [ 1913 Webster ]
Carrying the oar loose, [ they ] shift it hither and thither at pleasure. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]
I would advise you to shift a shirt. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to have patience to shift me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
To shift off,
To shift the scene,
Shift the scene for half an hour;
Time and place are in thy power. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. Admitting of being shifted. [ 1913 Webster ]
n.
'T was such a shifter that, if truth were known,
Death was half glad when he had got him down. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. The quality or state of being shifty. [ 1913 Webster ]
Diplomatic shiftiness and political versatility. J. A. Syminds. [ 1913 Webster ]
a.
Shifting backstays (Naut.),
Shifting ballast,
Shifting center.
Shifting locomotive.
adv. In a shifting manner. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. Destitute of expedients, or not using successful expedients; characterized by failure, especially by failure to provide for one's own support, through negligence or incapacity; hence, lazy; improvident; thriftless;
a. Full of, or ready with, shifts; fertile in expedients or contrivance. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]
Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]