lift

—liftable, adj. —lifter, n.

/lift/, v.t.

1. to move or bring (something) upward from the ground or other support to a higher position; hoist.

2. to raise or direct upward: He lifted his arm in a gesture of farewell; to lift one's head.

3. to remove or rescind by an official act, as a ban, curfew, or tax: a court decision to lift the ban on strikes by teachers.

4. to stop or put an end to (a boycott, blockade, etc.): The citizenry will have to conserve food and water until the siege against the city is lifted.

5. to hold up or display on high.

6. to raise in rank, condition, estimation, etc.; elevate or exalt (sometimes used reflexively): His first book lifted him from obscurity. By hard work they lifted themselves from poverty.

7. to make audible or louder, as the voice or something voiced: The congregation lifted their voices in song.

8. to transfer from one setting to another: For the protagonist of the new play, the author has lifted a character from an early novel.

9. Informal. to plagiarize: Whole passages had been lifted from another book.

10. Informal. to steal: His wallet was lifted on the crowded subway.

11. airlift (def. 5).

12. to remove (plants and tubers) from the ground, as after harvest or for transplanting.

13. Horol. (of an escape wheel) to move (a pallet) by moving along the outer, oblique face.

14. to pay off (a mortgage, promissory note, etc.).

15. Golf. to pick up (the ball), as to move it from an unplayable lie.

16. to perform a surgical face lifting on.

17. Shipbuilding.

a. to transfer (measurements and the like) from a drawing, model, etc., to a piece being built.

b. to form (a template) according to a drawing, model, etc.

18. to cease temporarily from directing (fire or bombardment) on an objective or area: They lifted the fire when the infantry began to advance.

19. Fox Hunting. to take (hounds) from the line of a fox to where it has just been seen.

v.i.

20. to go up; yield to upward pressure: The box is too heavy to lift. The lid won't lift.

21. to pull or strain upward in the effort to raise something: to lift at a heavy weight.

22. to move upward or rise; rise and disperse, as clouds or fog.

23. (of rain) to stop temporarily.

24. to rise to view above the horizon when approached, as land seen from the sea.

n.

25. the act of lifting, raising, or rising: the lift of a hand.

26. the distance that anything rises or is raised: a lift of 20 feet between canal locks.

27. a lifting or raising force: A kite depends on the wind to act as its lift.

28. the weight, load, or quantity lifted.

29. an act or instance of helping to climb or mount: He gave her a lift onto the wagon.

30. a ride in a vehicle, esp. one given to a pedestrian: Can you give me a lift across town?

31. a feeling of exaltation or uplift: Their visit gave me quite a lift.

32. assistance or aid: The fund-raiser's successful efforts proved a great lift for the organization.

33. a device or apparatus for lifting: a hydraulic lift.

34. a movement in which a dancer, skater, etc., lifts up his partner.

35. Skiing.

a. See ski lift.

b. See chair lift.

36. Brit.

a. elevator (def. 2).

b. any device used to lift or elevate, as a dumbwaiter or hoist.

37. Informal. a theft.

38. a rise or elevation of ground.

39. Aeron. the component of the aerodynamic force exerted by the air on an airfoil, having a direction perpendicular to the direction of motion and causing an aircraft to stay aloft.

40. Naut.

a. the capacity of a cargo ship measured in dead-weight tons.

b. See topping lift.

41. one of the layers of leather forming the heel of a boot or shoe.

42. a special arch support built or inserted into footwear.

43. Mining. the slice or thickness of ore mined in one operation.

44. Building Trades. the height of the quantity of concrete poured into a form at one time.

45. Naval Archit. any of the horizontal planks forming a type of half model (lift model), able to be removed and measured as a guide to laying out the water lines of the vessel at full scale.

46. Typesetting. fat (def. 25).

47. Print. the quantity of paper loaded into or removed from a press or other printing machine at one time.

48. Horol.

a. the displacement of a pallet by an escape wheel that has been unlocked.

b. the angle through which the pallet passes when so displaced.

49. airlift (defs. 1-3).

[1250-1300; 1955-60 for def. 10; ME liften < ON lypta, deriv. of lopt air, c. G lüften lit., to take aloft; see LOFT]

Syn. 1. elevate. See raise.

Ant. 1. lower.

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Upward-acting force on an aircraft wing or airfoil.

An aircraft in flight experiences an upward lift force, as well as the thrust of the engine, the force of its own weight, and a drag force. The lift force arises because the speed at which the displaced air moves over the top of the airfoil (and over the top of the attached boundary layer) is greater than the speed at which it moves over the bottom and because the pressure acting on the airfoil from below is therefore greater than the pressure from above.

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