SHIFT, v.i.

1. To move; to change place or position. Vegetables are not able to shift and seek nutriment.

2. To change its direction; to vary; as, the wind shifted from south to west.

3. To change; to give place to other things.

4. To change clothes particularly the under garment or chemise.

5. To resort to expedients for a livelihood, or for accomplishing a purpose; to move from one thing to another, and to seize one expedient when anohter fails.

Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave their companions to shift as well as they can. L'Estrange.

6. To practice indirect methods.

7. To seek methods of safety.

Nature teaches every creature how to shift for itself in cases of danger.

1. A change; a turning from one thing to another; hence, an expedient tried in difficulty; one thing tried whey another fails. I'll find a thousand shifts to get away. Shak.
2. In a bad sense, mean refuge; last resource. For little souls on little shifts rely. Dryden.
3. Fraud; artifice; expedient to effect a bad purpose; or, an evasion; a trick to escape detection or evil. Hooker. South.
4. A woman's under garment; a chemise.

1. To move; to change place or position. Vegetables are not able to shift and seek nutriment. Woodward.
2. To change its direction; to vary; as, the wind shifted from south to west.
3. To change; to give place to other things. – Locke.
4. To change clothes, particularly the under garment or chemise. – Young.
5. To resort to expedients for a livelihood, or for accomplishing a purpose; to move from one thing to another, and seize one expedient when another fails. Men in distress wilt look to themselves, and leave their paniuns to shift as well as they can. L'Estrange.
6. To practice indirect methods. Ralegh.
7. To seek methods of safety. Nature teaches every creature how to shift for itself in eases of danger. L'Estrange.
8. To change place; as, a cargo shifts from one side to the other.

1. To change; to alter; as, to shift the scenes.
2. To transfer from one place or position to another; as, shift the helm; shift the sails.
3. To put out of the way by some expedient. I shifted him away. Shak.
4. To change, as clothes; as, to shill a coat.
5. To dress in fresh clothes. Let him have time to shift himself. To shift about, to turn quite round, to a contrary side or opposite point. To shift off, to delay; to defer; as, to shift off the duties of religion. Rogers. #2. To put away; to disengage or disencumber one's self, as of a burden or inconvenience.

1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   To which God of his bounty would shift
   Crowns two of flowers well smelling. Chaucer.

2. To divide; to distribute.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   Some this, some that, as that him liketh shift. Chaucer.

3. The act of shifting.
   
   
   Specifically: (a)
4. To change the place of; to move or remove from one place to another; as, to shift a burden from one shoulder to another; to shift the blame.
   
   

   Hastily he schifte him[self]. Piers Plowman.

   Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days,
   Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways. Tusser.

5. To make a change or changes; to change position; to move; to veer; to substitute one thing for another; -- used in the various senses of the transitive verb.
   
   

   The sixth age shifts
   Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. Shak.

   Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat. Sir W. Scott.

6. Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's under-garment; a chemise.
7. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to turn; as, to shift the helm or sails.
   
   

   Carrying the oar loose, [they] shift it hither and thither at pleasure. Sir W. Raleigh.

8. To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to contrive; to manage.
   
   

   Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave their companions to shift as well as they can. L'Estrange.

9. The change of one set of workmen for another; hence, a spell, or turn, of work; also, a set of workmen who work in turn with other sets; as, a night shift.
10. To exchange for another of the same class; to remove and to put some similar thing in its place; to change; as, to shift the clothes; to shift the scenes.
    
    

    I would advise you to shift a shirt. Shak.

11. To practice indirect or evasive methods.
    
    

    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.

12. In building, the extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
13. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to have patience to shift me. Shak.

14. To slip to one side of a ship, so as to destroy the equilibrum; -- said of ballast or cargo; as, the cargo shifted.
15. A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
16. To put off or out of the way by some expedient.
    
    
    "I shifted him away." Shak.

    To shift off, to delay; to defer; to put off; to lay aside. -- To shift the scene, to change the locality or the surroundings, as in a play or a story.

    Shift the scene for half an hour;
    Time and place are in thy power. Swift.

17. A change of the position of the hand on the finger board, in playing the violin.
    
    

    To make shift, to contrive or manage in an exigency. "I shall make shift to go without him." Shak.

    [They] made a shift to keep their own in Ireland. Milton.