lift
Forms
- present (v1)
- lift
- past (v2)
- lifted
- past participle (v3)
- lifted
- present participle
- lifting
- 3rd person singular
- lifts
- Plural
- lifts
Definitions
1.To raise or rise.
- You never lift a finger to help me!
- The fog eventually lifted, leaving the streets clear.
- Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic.
2.To steal.(slang)
- I wasn't able to lift that box.
- The box was so heavy that I couldn't lift it.
3.To source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise.(slang)
- I wasn't able to lift that box.
- The box was so heavy that I couldn't lift it.
4.To arrest (a person).(slang)
- Maybe the police lifted him and he's in Castlereagh [Interrogation Centre] because he'd been lifted three or four times previously and took to Castlereagh. They used to come in and raid the house and take him away.
1.The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip.
- He gave me a lift to the bus station.
- Accordingly, in spite of many grumbles and remonstrances from Summerlee, I ordered an additional tube, which was placed with the other in his motor-car, for he had offered me a lift to Victoria.
2.A mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building.
- Take the lift to the fourth floor.
3.A mechanical device for raising vehicles for service, so that it is easier for a mechanic to get beneath them.
4.An act of lifting or raising.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1681
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Common
Related words
Etymology
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”), related to *luftuz (“roof, air”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”) or from a root meaning roof (see *luftuz).