To which God of his bounty would shift Crowns two of
flowers well smelling. --Chaucer.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of
air. --Sir H.
Wotton.
(b) A turning from one thing to another; hence, an
expedient tried in difficalty; often, an evasion; a
trick; a fraud. ``Reduced to pitiable shifts.''
--Macaulay.
I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away.
--Shak.
Little souls on little shifts rely. --Dryden.
2. Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's
under-garment; a chemise.
3. 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.
4. In building, the extent, or arrangement, of the
overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed
in courses so as to break joints.
5. (Mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a
fault.
6. (Mus.) 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.