Shift \Shift\, v. i.
   1. To divide; to distribute. [Obs.]
      
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            Some this, some that, as that him liketh shift.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      
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   2. 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.
      
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            The sixth age shifts
            Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. --Shak.
      
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            Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his
            seat.                                 --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
      
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   3. To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to
      contrive; to manage.
      
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            Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave
            their companions to shift as well as they can.
                                                  --L'Estrange.
      
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   4. To practice indirect or evasive methods.
      
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            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.
      
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   5. (Naut.) To slip to one side of a ship, so as to destroy
      the equilibrum; -- said of ballast or cargo; as, the cargo
      shifted.
      
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Shift \Shift\ (sh[i^]ft), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shifted}; p. pr.
   & vb. n. {Shifting}.] [OE. shiften, schiften, to divide,
   change, remove. AS. sciftan to divide; akin to LG. & D.
   schiften to divide, distinguish, part Icel. skipta to divide,
   to part, to shift, to change, Dan skifte, Sw. skifta, and
   probably to Icel. sk[imac]fa to cut into slices, as n., a
   slice, and to E. shive, sheave, n., shiver, n.]
   1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion. [Obs.]
      
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            To which God of his bounty would shift
            Crowns two of flowers well smelling.  --Chaucer.
      
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   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.
      
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            Hastily he schifte him[self].         --Piers
                                                  Plowman.
      
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            Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days,
            Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways.
                                                  --Tusser.
      
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   3. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to
      turn; as, to shift the helm or sails.
      
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            Carrying the oar loose, [they] shift it hither and
            thither at pleasure.                  --Sir W.
                                                  Raleigh.
      
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   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.
      
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            I would advise you to shift a shirt.  --Shak.
      
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   5. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively. [Obs.]
      
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            As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to
            have patience to shift me.            --Shak.
      
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   6. To put off or out of the way by some expedient. "I shifted
      him away." --Shak.
      
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   {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.
      
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            Shift the scene for half an hour;
            Time and place are in thy power.      --Swift.
      
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Shift \Shift\, n. [Cf. Icel. skipti. See {Shift}, v. t.]
   1. The act of shifting. Specifically:
      (a) The act of putting one thing in the place of another,
          or of changing the place of a thing; change;
          substitution.
          
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                My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of
                air.                              --Sir H.
                                                  Wotton.
          
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      (b) A turning from one thing to another; hence, an
          expedient tried in difficulty; often, an evasion; a
          trick; a fraud. "Reduced to pitiable shifts."
          --Macaulay.
          
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                I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away.
                                                  --Shak.
          
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                Little souls on little shifts rely. --Dryden.
          
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   2. Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's
      under-garment; a chemise.
      
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   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.
      
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   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.
      
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   5. (Mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a
      fault.
      
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   6. (Mus.) A change of the position of the hand on the finger
      board, in playing the violin.
      
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   {To make shift}, to contrive or manage in an exigency. "I
      shall make shift to go without him." --Shak.
      
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            [They] made a shift to keep their own in Ireland.
                                                  --Milton.
      
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