Meaning

20 senses

  1. (countable, uncountable)A movement to do something, a beginning.

  2. (countable, uncountable)An act of shifting; a slight movement or change.

    There was a shift in the political atmosphere.

    c. 1620-1626, Henry Wotton, letter to Nicholas Pey My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air.

    Verschiebung, Verlagerung, Verstellung

    сдвигsdvig, передвиже́ниеperedvižénije, смеще́ниеsmeščénije

    a qualitative change

  3. (countable, historical, uncountable)A type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, a slip or chemise.

    Just last week she bought a new shift at the market.

  4. (countable, uncountable)A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.

    a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist

  5. (countable, uncountable)A change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time.

    We'll work three shifts a day till the job's done.

    Schicht

    сме́наsména

    змі́наzmína

    a crew of workers who work for a specific period of time

  6. (US, countable, uncountable)The gear mechanism in a motor vehicle.

    Does it come with a stick-shift?

    Gangschaltung, Schaltung

    переключе́ниеpereključénije, переключе́ние переда́чpereključénije peredáč

  7. (countable, uncountable)A control code or character used to change between different character sets.

  8. A control code or character used to change between different character sets.

    (countable, uncountable)An instance of the use of such a code or character.

  9. (countable, uncountable)A bit shift.

    Umschalten, Shift, Shifttaste

    шифтšift, кла́виша шифтkláviša šift

  10. (countable, uncountable)An infield shift.

    Teams often use a shift against this lefty.

  11. (Ireland, often, uncountable, usually)The act of kissing passionately.

    the act of moving from one place to another

  12. (countable, uncountable)The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.

Examples

455 sentences

  1. Tom refused to work the night shift.

    Том відмовився працювати у нічну зміну. — deniko

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. Tom works the night shift.

    Том працює в нічну зміну. — older

    ruТом работает в ночную смену. — Selena777

    deTom hat Nachtschicht. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. How long was your shift?

    Скільки часу тривала твоя зміна? — deniko

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Tom refuses to work the night shift.

    Том відмовляється працювати у нічну зміну. — deniko

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. My shift's over in a couple of hours.

    Моя зміна закінчується за пару годин. — deniko

    ruМоя смена заканчивается через пару часов. — odexed

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · B1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
change of workers:
Русский
By meaning 4
act of shifting:
change of workers:
gear mechanism in a motor vehicle:
button on a keyboard:
Deutsch
By meaning 4
act of shifting:
change of workers:
gear mechanism in a motor vehicle:
button on a keyboard:

Origin

The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate i

The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-West Germanic *skiftijan, from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), Low German schichten (“to stack, layer”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: shifts
Singularshift
Pluralshifts

regular

Synonyms

21 synonyms
workshiftturn of duty
Close in meaning
  • the act of moving from one place to another:shifting
  • an event in which something is displaced without rotation:displacement
  • the time period during which you are at work:work shiftduty period
  • the key on the typewriter keyboard that shifts from lower-case letters to upper-case letters:shift key
  • the act of changing one thing or position for another:switchswitching
  • a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist:chemisesack

Word family

79 related words
Relatedshifty
Derivedairshiftallylic shiftblueshiftblue shiftchain shiftchemical shiftchloride shiftcontinental shiftcoshiftdative shiftfield shiftfirst shiftforeshiftframeshiftfrequency-shift keyinggear shifthot shiftisotope shiftlanguage shiftleft shiftlightshiftloanshiftlobster shiftmakeshift

Lessons for this word

2 lessons

Collocations

5 patterns
  • the night shift
  • night shift
  • the late shift
  • shift ends
  • late shift

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
shhshieldB2shiitakeshiksashill
shift — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto