1Move or cause to move from one place to another, especially over a small distance.

1. 1.1no object Change the position of one's body, especially because one is nervous or uncomfortable.
   he shifted a little in his chair

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Gabrielle shifted in her position and stared down at her shoes like a guilty girl.
   • A wolf howled off in the distance, and Raiana shifted in her seat, waiting to reach home.
   • Brant shifted uncomfortably, obviously nervous about the gun still pointed directly at him and he began to lower his hands.
   • He shifted as though uncomfortable and studied the landscape behind me.
   • He shifts to a position where he's facing Melissa's face.
   • Michael and Jessica were shifting uncomfortably and nervously, unsure of what to do.
   • Ian shifted on his feet uncomfortably but did not speak.
   • I shifted uncomfortably in my position on a plastic covered sofa.
   • I shifted uncomfortably on my feet and looked down at the ground.
   • Jorenae shifted, becoming more nervous by the second.
   • Have a sitting patient shift his or her weight every 15 minutes, or reposition the patient in the chair every hour.
   • He sighed, and shifted in the uncomfortable chair.
   • One would ordinarily shift from a physical position which grows increasingly uncomfortable, but the meditator does not.
   • Arial shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
   • She shifted, uncomfortable all of a sudden and unsure of his meaning.
   • He shifts, moving the arm away from his face, and bringing it up over his head, to rest on the pillow behind him.
   • He shifts into lotus position in his chair, tucking both feet beneath him and riffling quickly through his magazine, which is abnormally thick.
   • He carefully shifted his weight and moved off of the bed, casting a quick glance across his back to assure himself that he hadn't stirred his wife.
   • She felt uncomfortable, shifting under the gaze of the old woman, which seemed to bore right through her.
   • I shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another.

   Synonyms

   change, alter, adjust, make adjustments to, adapt, amend, recast, vary, modify, revise, reverse, retract, do a u-turn on, row back
2. 1.2with object Change the emphasis, direction, or focus of.
   she's shifting the blame onto me

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In fact, McDonald argued that tobacco companies have begun to shift their focus onto young adults.
   • The way in which the senior consultant dealt with his junior doctor was helpful in that it shifted the focus onto what could be learnt from the error.
   • Maybe the emphasis should be shifted from the initiation of activism to its consequences.
   • During Intel's growth spurt, the New Mexico team shifted some of its focus to group mentoring, where one manager helps a small group of new recruits.
   • Over the course of the year focus will be shifted to other areas of crime in the hope of achieving similar results.
   • Some fear that the scheme might shift liability towards consumer in cases of disputed transactions.
   • Wanting to keep the subject off of myself, I shifted the focus onto Ryan.
   • Treasury Holdings is to shift some of its focus away from commercial projects and into the construction of high density residential schemes.
   • The economic culture in particular was shifted significantly in the direction of enterprise.
   • We can expect to see a push for more of the tax burden to be shifted onto employers.
   • The fiscal burden has been shifted off property owners onto labor.
   • The burden of these high prices is being shifted onto the backs of consumers and homeowners, especially those least able to pay the larger bills.
   • According to the new law, the focus of government work will be shifted from issuing licences to conducting inspections.
   • Terry Levin, a highly respected art director, has shifted her emphasis away from advertising and now specializes in packaging.
   • While all deaths on the roads are avoidable it seems that your campaign aims to shift the focus and blame away from motorcyclists and onto other road users.
   • My mother was never the type to dwell on the things that upset her so I wasn't surprised to find her changing the subject and shifting the focus onto me.
   • Such a viewpoint does not quite mean ‘getting rid’ of problems, but rather shifting one's focus.
   • The time has also come, he says, to shift some of the focus of innovation away from work and toward everyday life.
   • The nurse who compliments also feels buoyed and shifts his/her focus from negative to positive.
   • Seeing the sign on the interstate for the exit he wanted, he shifted all of his thoughts back to the present, focusing on what he was doing now.

   Synonyms

   change, convert, divert, redirect
3. 1.3no object Change in emphasis, direction, or focus.
   the wind had shifted to the east

   the balance of power shifted abruptly

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The press's attention shifted elsewhere, at least temporarily.
   • Has the media balance of power shifted to bloggers?
   • The focus of the conferences has gradually shifted from Computer Science to Economics.
   • National perceptions of distance shifted fundamentally, and travel began to become a consumer good.
   • This year, however, it was clear how far the balance of power has shifted in favor of the operators and their desire to control the design and branding of the phone.
   • The focus of his attention shifted abruptly to the moonlit scene before him.
   • In upcoming issues, the focus will shift to wind and solar power, and then to ethanol.
   • Since the group was founded, its research focus has shifted from a heavy emphasis on physics, to include other fields.
   • Over the years the animation seems to have shifted over to the computer - or so it looks - and everything about it has become painful to watch.
   • But even as the balance of power on the ground shifted in one direction, the balance of politics at home was shifting in the other.
   • Then, almost abruptly, the focus shifted to program financing.
   • The balance of power has shifted from availability and accessibility to competence and control.
   • Even now that the balance of power has shifted, attitudes haven't really changed.
   • Traditional forms of organization are being changed because the balance of power has shifted in fundamental ways.
   • While code requirements are still an issue for emergency power, much of the emphasis has shifted to providing power to certain loads.
   • The balance of power has shifted; this time I truly am in control, and the feeling is exhilarating.
   • If the area is violent, the balance of power can shift in the opposite direction.
   • But he says the balance of power has shifted towards the workers because the public sector is having to compete with the private sector for a limited pool of talent.
   • Suddenly the balance of power shifted from the clubs to the players, who could now hold their employers to ransom as they neared the end of their contract.
   • The focus shifted from the direct and rapid detection of life to acquiring a better understanding of the planet.

   Synonyms

   veer, alter, change, back, vary, fluctuate, turn, swing, change direction
4. 1.4Computing with object Move (data) one or more places to the right or left in a register.
   the partial remainder is shifted left

   Example sentencesExamples

   • And, after the next clock pulse at t5, all logic 1s will have been shifted out, replaced by 0s.
   • A register that is capable of shifting data one bit at a time is called a shift register.
   • A bidirectional shift register, which is capable of shifting bits to the left (L) or right (R), will then be capable of performing modulo-2 division and multiplication operations.
5. 1.5no object Press the shift key on a typewriter or computer keyboard.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • If it's a manual, the shift-lock's probably broken and/or stuck, so she needs to shift and unshift it a few times.
   • You had to shift up and down for every letter or punctuation, and had to hit the stiff, tubular keys by arching your fingers to hit them straight down, hard.
   • While I was going through the shortcut for the horizontal scrolling shortcut which said either do shift or ctrl or alt + scrolling, i found out that shift + scroll up does the forward and shift + scroll down does backward.
   • Similarly, if you Shift-left-click an entity in the graphics window, GAMBIT adds the entity to the appropriate open pick list.
6. 1.6informal with object Sell (something)
   a lot of high-priced product you simply don't know how to shift

   Example sentencesExamples

   • We really did shift some stuff last weekend, didn't we?
   • This is no bad thing when one considers how direct, sharp and inventive that mini-genre could be - and how many millions of albums Rob Thomas shifted.
   • If they stop shifting beer and food then they will start to get feedback from people they see as more important than your humble fan.
   • It's very important to finish the design phase before the end of this year (so that we can shift the product to the market at the beginning of next year).
   • SonicBlue does indeed appear to have a problem shifting its Diamond Mako PDA.
   • I know that there is an element of advertising - my whisky must be good because there is a bottle in TWE at £10000! - but they must also want to shift some product.
   • And while we might be tough on price, we do shift some volume.
7. 1.7North American no object Change gear in a vehicle.
   she shifted down to fourth

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Lee shifted to third gear and blasted through the long stretch of highway.
   • The bike roared to 100 kph before I even had the chance to shift into second gear.
   • To maintain the vehicle speed, she would have to shift into a lower gear.
   • He shifted to the first gear and the jeep rolled off the side and onto the freeway.
   • Without the pressures and distractions of the group, I started my bike first try, and then flew off, shifting into fourth gear without a hitch.
   • Drake slammed on the gas and shifted into third gear.
   • If you changed your point of view by standing on the other side of my bike, my left wrist would also turn clockwise when I shift to a higher gear.
   • She eased out onto the road and shifted into a higher gear.
   • He still didn't look at her as he shifted into gear and started driving down the street.
   • To shift into fourth gear, you push the button yet again.
   • He flipped the switch to on, shifted into first gear, and hit the gas.
   • I can barely shift into second gear without sliding and almost spinning out of control.
   • Shannon shifted into gear and pulled away from the curb without a word.
   • Kahn looked both ways and turned left, shifting into a higher gear with a clank.
   • Zaren pushed in the clutch and shifted to second gear and the car made a sudden leap in speed.
   • So after about a mile of sauntering I shifted into third gear and left Brower with his hair ruffling in my wind.
   • A car with a manual transmission, after conversion, may be shifted manually or worked like an automatic.
   • You'll learn not to get distracted when the car is about to shift into top gear.
   • Taylor shifted into low gear and went into six wheel drive.
   • When I encountered tractors on west Cork's twisty lanes, it was often necessary to shift down into first gear to get started again.
8. 1.8archaic no object Be evasive or indirect.
   they know not how to shift and rob as the old ones do

   Example sentencesExamples

   • He leads by following opinion, he trims, he shifts, he glides on the silvery sounds of his undulating, flexible, cautiously modulated voice, winding his way betwixt heaven and earth.

1A slight change in position, direction, or tendency.

1. 1.1Astronomy The displacement of spectral lines.
   See also redshift

   Example sentencesExamples

   • This spectral shift possibly reflects increased hydrogen bonding and/or specific iterations with cationic species.
   • The amount and period of the shift is used to calculate the orbital velocity, size of the stars, and their distance from one another.
   • The spectral shift occurs slowly, reaching a plateau after 15-20 min, and is fully reversible.
   • The spectral shift indicates that the hydrogens are completely replaced by deuterons.
   • Single wavelength probes only show changes in intensity on binding with no spectral shift.
2. 1.2 A key on a typewriter or computer keyboard used to switch between two sets of characters or functions, principally between lower- and upper-case letters.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • His left ring finger pressed the shift key when he needed to select a capital letter.
   • Pressing the shift key while drawing will produce a straight line.
   • I could understand a typo, but apparently the shift key on this guy's pen was broken.
   • This allows one of the keys to double as a shift key similar to a shift key on a keyboard.
   • It turns out you can defeat this system by holding down the shift key when you insert a music CD into your computer.
   • In the case of Tamil, you have 63 letters and one has to use the shift key quite often because each key has two letters on it.
   • But what I really want to know is: why do you have to use the shift key to get a full stop… not to mention the question of why Q is in the easiest spot on the keyboard to hit, the location of the English keyboard A?
   • The symbol following the shift key could then come from an alternative set of characters, just as the shift key on a keyboard offers access to new symbols.
   • A second shift key has been added to the right of the space bar.
   • He finds it easier not to use capitals, as it takes a second hand to push the shift key.
   • A scientist who discovered that by holding down the shift key on your PC can bypass the copyright protection on music CDs has been threatened with legal action under America's infamous Millennium Act.
   • When using the shift key the game pad has the ability to store an impressive 56 programmable keys, this is done with the combination of shifting modes, Red, Green and Blue.
   • Apparently they force you to write your memoirs on a keyboard with a sticky shift key.
   • For example, to access a character's inventory, you have to use the left shift key, while the ‘i’ and ‘tab’ keys aren't used for anything.
   • On my system where I have always-run set on, the shift key actually slows the camera movement down, making for better camera motions.
   • Disable the auto-start feature on your PC or hold the shift key down whenever inserting an ‘enhanced’ or unknown CD.
   • Are the shift key and space bar that hard to find on your keyboard, David?
   • When you put a disc in the drive, hold the shift key on your keyboard - before the disc is inserted.
   • Then, holding down a shift key, I could use this same feature to select a portion of the file with that same granularity, making clipboard and punch-in/punch-out operations a snap.
   • For example, the right shift key is the same size as the standard letter keys, and lots of typists will go crazy hitting the next-door up arrow instead.
3. 1.3
   short for sound shift

   Example sentencesExamples

   • But through prescribed borders, shifts in dialect coalesced into distinct languages.
   • The stories she listened to intrigued her with their form as well as their content, the myriad dialects, shifts, and cadences of African American voices.
   • Many of these ‘mistakes’ are easily-explained shifts in the sound system of spoken English.
4. 1.4North American The gearshift or gear-changing mechanism in a motor vehicle.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Smooth acceleration occurred whether you used the auto box, the paddle shift or the Tiptronic system.
   • The gear shift is electronic, and has a plastic lever that moves in order to allow gear change.
   • All the sequential shifter does is convert the back and forth motion to move the two shifter rods in a standard H pattern gear shift.
   • It would also be very straight forward to make a solendoid activate the sequential shift, so that you can have paddle shifting, with the paddles or buttons wherever you want.
   • I thought ForceFed's was a full sequential transmission with computer controlled clutch and all, not just a sequential gear shift.
5. 1.5Building The positioning of successive rows of bricks so that their ends do not coincide.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The problem is the brick pattern needs to start at the top of the4" block wall, this equates to a 1/2 course of one brick shift upward.
6. 1.6Computing A movement of the digits of a word in a register one or more places to left or right, equivalent to multiplying or dividing the corresponding number by a power of whatever number is the base.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Similarly, if we operate in reverse chronological order (i.e. from t=4 to t=1), the left shift will result in a multiplication by two.
   • I state that to multiply by 10 you use shifts to quickly multiply by 2 and 8 and then add the results.
   • At each time step from t=1 onwards, the right shift results in a state change which indicates a division by two operation.
7. 1.7American Football A change of position by two or more players before the ball is put into play.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The shifts never jar the player out of the experience, never dent the game's inherent fluidity.
   • The team is successful with shifts because Gannon is so adept at reading defenses and exploiting weaknesses, as are veteran WRs Jerry Rice and Brown.
   • I always enjoy the shouts among defenders when an offensive team puts a man in motion or shifts before the snap.
   • Nebraska is a classic West Coast team with a lot of jumps and scramble shifts before the ball is snapped.

2One of two or more recurring periods in which different groups of workers do the same jobs in relay.

1. 2.1 The group of people who work during a particular shift.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • I spent a great day yesterday visiting with old friends in two different shifts.
   • We have a skeleton crew here now, but as soon as the phone stops ringing I am going to hire a second crew and then a third shift and do a weekend run.
   • Around 50 people were transported in the first few hours by the team, who were replaced at teatime by a second shift who remained at the village until midnight.
   • I understood and sat up, searching for my shift on the floor.
   • It must, however, operate long hours to meet the commuting needs of different shifts.
   • He would just have to wait for his shift at the computer console and, in the meantime, try to remain content.

   Synonyms

   group, crew, gang, team, squad, patrol

3A woman's straight unwaisted dress.

1. 3.1historical A long, loose-fitting undergarment.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Kate tugged off her muddy boots and leather armor to pull on a clean shift and the purple gown.
   • She pulled a brightly coloured gown over her shift, tying it at the waist with a decorative sash.
   • Taking off her mud covered dress she noticed the hem of her shift was also caked in mud, so she put on a clean one.
   • She stripped down to her shift, putting her dress carefully in a corner, and progressed to the armoire.
   • She finally decided on a sky blue dress with a beige shift underneath.

4archaic An ingenious or devious device or stratagem.