My going to Oxford was not merely forshift of air.
2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, inNew York Times[1]:
The generationalshift 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.
(obsolete) A share, a portion assigned on division.
(historical) A type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, aslip orchemise.
Just last week she bought a newshift at the market.
No; without a gown, in ashift that was somewhat of the coarsest, and none of the cleanest, bedewed likewise with some odoriferous effluvia, the produce of the day's labour, with a pitchfork in her hand, Molly Seagrim approached.
1762,Charles Johnstone,The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools[2], volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine,→OCLC, page202:
At length, one night, when the company by some accident broke up much sooner than ordinary, so that the candles were not half burnt out, she was not able to resist the temptation, but resolved to have them some way or other. Accordingly, as soon as the hurry was over, and the servants, as she thought, all gone to sleep, she stole out of her bed, and went down stairs, naked to hershift as she was, with a design to steal them[…]
(Ireland, crude slang, often with the definite article, usually uncountable) The act of kissing passionately.
2023, Colin Walsh,Kala:
She flicked her hair out of her eyes again and looked into yours as you put your hands on her waist. Then her tongue was in your mouth and yours was in hers. You were getting theshift. Ye were shifting.
[If] I went on dates with these two [alcohols], right, you're a deep meaningful conversation with this one, [...] but this one? Ashift and a finger and maybe you'd go home, do you know what I mean?
(genetics) A mutation in which theDNA orRNA from two different sources (such as viruses or bacteria) combine.
2017, Laura Spinney,Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World,→ISBN:
This kind of change, calledshift - or more memorably, 'viral sex' - tends to trigger a pandemic, because a radically different virus demands a radically different immune response, and that takes time to mobilise.
(music) Inviolin-playing, any position of the left hand except that nearest thenut.
A period of time in which one'sconsciousness resides in another reality, usually achieved throughmeditation or other means.
But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt toshift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.
The ability toshift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
The first thing he did was to secure a convenient lodging at the inn where he dined; then heshifted himself, and according to the direction he had received, went to the house of Mrs. Gauntlet[…].
2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, inRail, page68:
Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 - a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable - boy, can those trainsshift under the wires.
1743,Robert Drury,The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar[3], London, page112:
My Fellow-Slaves were[…] as courteous to me as I could well-expect; and as they had Plantations of their own, they gave me[…] such Victuals as they had; especially on dark Nights, and at such Times as I could notshift for myself.
But this I dare auow of all those Schoole-men, that though they were exceeding wittie, yet they better teach all their Followers toshift, then to resolue, by their distinctions.
