shift

Forms

1.A movement to do something, a beginning.
2.A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.
3.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.
- Work commenced at 2.30 p.m. on Saturday and continued without break until 4 a.m. on Monday morning, in the course of which three shifts of upwards of 90 men each and three steam cranes were employed.
4.An act of shifting; a slight movement or change.
- There was a shift in the political atmosphere.
- The generational shift Mr. Obama once embodied is, in fact, well under way, but it will not change Washington as quickly, or as harmoniously, as a lot of voters once hoped.

1.To move from one place to another; to redistribute.
- We'll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office.
2.To change in form or character; switch.
- His voice shifted from song to whisper.
- As a result, I shifted my approach to focus on group-generated activities and broadened the chronological time frame.
3.To change position; to move.
- She shifted slightly in her seat.
- A maverick is an unbranded calf that has been weaned and shifts for itself.
- We were hoping he could shift himself to take care of the problem, but he couldn't be shifted.
4.To change residence; to leave and live elsewhere.
- We are shifting to America next month.

Common· #1964

The noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with German Schicht (“layer, shift”).