lift
(lɪft )
Word forms: lifts , lifting , lifted
1. verb B1
If you lift something, you move it to another position, especially upwards.
The Colonel lifted the phone and dialed his superior. [VERB noun]
She lifted the last of her drink to her lips. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
Lift up means the same as lift.
She put her arms around him and lifted him up. [VERB noun PARTICLE]
Curious shoppers lifted up their children to take a closer look at the parade. [VERB PARTICLE noun]
Synonyms: raise, pick up, hoist, draw up
2. verb B1+
If you lift a part of your body, you move it to a higher position.
Amy lifted her arm to wave. 'Goodbye,' she called. [VERB noun]
She lifted her foot and squashed the wasp into the ground. [VERB noun]
Lift up means the same as lift.
Tom took his seat again and lifted his feet up on to the railing. [VERB noun PARTICLE]
The boys lifted up their legs, indicating they wanted to climb in. [VERB PARTICLE noun]
3. verb
If you lift your eyes or your head, you look up, for example when you have been reading and someone comes into the room.
When he finished he lifted his eyes and looked out the window. [VERB noun]
4. verb
If people in authority lift a law or rule that prevents people from doing something, they end it.
The European Commission has urged France to lift its ban on imports of British beef. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: revoke, end, remove, withdraw
5. verb
If something lifts your spirits or your mood, or if they lift, you start feeling more cheerful.
He used his incredible sense of humour to lift my spirits. [VERB noun]
A brisk walk in the fresh air can lift your mood and dissolve a winter depression. [VERB noun]
As soon as she heard the phone ring her spirits lifted. [VERB]
Synonyms: exalt, raise, improve, advance
6. singular noun
If something gives you a lift, it gives you a feeling of greater confidence, energy, or enthusiasm. [informal]
My selection for the team has given me a tremendous lift.
Synonyms: boost, encouragement, stimulus, reassurance
7. countable noun A2 regional note: in AM, use elevator
A lift is a device that carries people or goods up and down inside tall buildings. [British]
They took the lift to the fourth floor.
Synonyms: elevator [mainly US], hoist, paternoster
8. countable noun A2
If you give someone a lift somewhere, you take them there in your car as a favour to them.
He had a car and often gave me a lift home.
Synonyms: ride, run, drive, transport
9. verb
If a government or organization lifts people or goods in or out of an area, it transports them there by aircraft, especially when there is a war.
The army lifted people off rooftops where they had climbed to escape the flooding. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
The helicopters are designed to quickly lift soldiers and equipment to the battlefield. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
10. verb
To lift something means to increase its amount or to increase the level or the rate at which it happens.
The bank lifted its basic home loans rate to 10.99% from 10.75%. [V n + to/from/by]
A barrage would halt the flow upstream and lift the water level. [VERB noun]
11. verb
If fog, cloud, or mist lifts, it reduces, for example by moving upwards or by becoming less thick.
The fog had lifted and revealed a warm, sunny day. [VERB]
Synonyms: disappear, clear, vanish, disperse
12. verb
If you lift root vegetables or bulbs, you dig them out of the ground.
Lift carrots on a dry day and pack them horizontally in boxes of damp sand. [VERB noun]
13. to lift a finger phrase
If you say that a person does not lift a finger or raise a finger to do something, especially to help someone, you are critical of them because they do nothing. [disapproval]
She never lifted a finger around the house.
They will not lift a finger to help their country.
Phrasal verbs:
lift off
phrasal verb
When an aircraft or rocket lifts off, it leaves the ground and rises into the air.
The plane lifted off and climbed steeply into the sky. [VERB PARTICLE]
lift up
Image of lift
© 24/04/2018, Shutterstock
Idioms:
not lift a finger
to not do something or not help someone at all
I'm the one who has to clean it all up. She wouldn't lift a finger if I didn't beg her.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Collocations:
cadge a lift hitch a lift lift a cup lift a siege lift a veil lift high lift opens lift restrictions lift sanctions lift slightly lift the spirits mist lifts thumb a lift
Previously the only way to go out for a drink in the country was to walk or cadge a lift on a passing tractor or cart.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
She was the one who used to cadge lifts from a neighbour for the short journey to school.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
He cadged a lift with his sister and noticed that most of the cars on the road had no passengers.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
They hitched a lift with her photographer mum who was going up to London for an exhibition.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
They think she hitched a lift after leaving the festival.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The next day we hitched a lift on the back of a truck.
The Sun (2014)
They will still be contenders to lift the cup.
The Sun
No one deserves to lift the cup more.
The Sun
They were the favourites, at one point the hot favourites, but there was still a more than 75 per cent chance that they wouldn't lift the cup.
Times, Sunday Times
Hope you lift the cup for that.
The Sun
They couldn't bear to see the other team lift the cup.
Times, Sunday Times
While attending the king, they pleaded with him to lift the siege and make peace.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Previously, two hundred small ships and a large store of provisions had been collected in preparation to lift the siege.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
He in fact ordered his commanders to lift the siege.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
He therefore had to lift the siege after a few months.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Immediately afterwards, the allies began to lift the siege and withdraw.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Even new government rules brought in to combat avoidance will not lift the veil of secrecy on these schemes.
Times, Sunday Times
If it helps to lift the veil on where our food comes from, then it's all for the good.
Times, Sunday Times
The book was a confrontation with censorship and a fight to lift the veil.
Times, Sunday Times
There are no rules once you lift the veil off.
The Sun
Campaigners want more to be done to lift the veil of secrecy hiding the ownership of companies and trusts that hold property.
Times, Sunday Times
I felt my shoulders go back and my head lift high.
Times, Sunday Times
Phones were lifted high in the hope of a snapshot of another new beginning.
Times, Sunday Times
They make this call with their long tail pressed firmly to the ground and their head lifted high.
Times, Sunday Times
The updrafts of fine volcanic ash are lifted high into the sky by the enormous steam plumes created by the vast quantities of evaporating ice.
Times, Sunday Times
This generation seeks a holistic gospel that looks up and looks around, with holy hands lifted high in worship and helping hands stretched out in compassion.
Christianity Today
When the hotel lift opens, a tidal wave of blood floods from inside.
Times, Sunday Times
At floor 4, the lift opens but both find nobody outside.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
As soon as he went to the elevator, he found out that his family and friends were all there to greet him as the door of the lift opens.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Did the Government lift livestock movement restrictions too quickly?
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
But fewer cases were being reported - and the country will lift some lockdown restrictions today.
The Sun (2020)
The peer-to-peer lender had to raise the money to fulfil regulatory requirements and in turn lift restrictions on the conditional banking licence that it secured a year ago.
Times,Sunday Times (2019)
But none of this will lift the sanctions or accusations against them.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
There are calls to lift western sanctions.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
In return, America would need to lift sanctions and offer trade and investment guarantees.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Inhale and lift slightly, as you exhale lean forwards, keeping back straight and leading with chest.
The Sun
The slight flex causes the corners of the scraper to lift slightly thus preventing them from marring the workpiece.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Diplodocus now appears to be in lumbering motion, with its tail lifted slightly off the ground and its neck craning over visitors in the hall’s central walkway.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Her signature treatment includes waxing, tweezing and threading to create a straight, archless shape that lifts slightly upwards towards the outer end.
Times, Sunday Times
They failed to do the job and the bridge lifted slightly and settled back into place.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
They lift the spirit of the players and the management.
Times, Sunday Times
Halls set the scene the moment you come through the door and can either lift the spirit or send it spiralling downwards.
Times, Sunday Times
Attractive foliage and flowers lift the spirit - who doesn't smile when given a fragrant rose to smell, a bunch of scented blooms, or suddenly coming across an attractive front garden?
The Sun
So my picks this week are the latest statement designs that lift the spirit with virtuoso use of materials, texture and print — and will please in the long term.
Times, Sunday Times
Even watching can lift the spirit.
Times, Sunday Times
When we go for it, we really go for it, until the red mist lifts and someone takes off the leg restraints.
Times, Sunday Times
And then, as the veil of mist lifts, something stirs from its nest in the top of a nearby tree.
Times, Sunday Times
When the mist lifts, the sun might come out, revealing a city bereft of the huge tour groups that clog the piazzas and bridges in the summer months.
Times, Sunday Times
Some people had walked eight hours to get on to the road to thumb a lift to training.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Once when I saw him off at the bus stop, he began to try to thumb a lift and I could see the other people in the queue looking at his odd behaviour.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
He tries to thumb a lift from cars as they approach from either direction.
Somewhere East of Life (1994)
Translations:
Chinese: 搭车, 电梯, 举起
Japanese: 人を車に乗せてあげること free ride, エレベーター up/down, 持ち上げる