[f. LIFT v.]
I. The action or an act of lifting. (See also DEAD LIFT.)
1. The action or an act of lifting, in various senses of the vb.; a raising or rising; the distance through which anything is lifted and moved. † To have the lift: to be hanged. To be on the lift (Southern U.S.): to be on the point of removing; also fig. to be at the point of death (Cent. Dict.).
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XXI. v. 848. In the lyftyng the kyng sowned and syr Lucan fyl in a sowne wyth the lyfte.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 536. After many showtis & lyftis at the gatis.
1570. Durham Depos. (Surtees), 190. He saith that he was comandyd by Brian to gyve a lifft at the aulter ston.
1604. Terilo, Friar Bacon’s Proph., 486, in Hazl., E. P. P., IV. 285. And thiefes must hang, and knaves must shift, And silly fooles must have the lift.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 731. In the Lift of the Feet when a Man Goeth up the Hill, the Weight of the Body beareth most upon the Knees.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., I. 29. [It] was transported miraculously … from Nazareth … 17. hundred Italian miles, O! a long lift for so scuruie a Cell.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, lxxxiii. (1708), 99. The Goat … gives the Fox a Lift, and so Out [of the Well] he Springs.
1704. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1711), 128. We must give an equal Lift to all the Parts.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xliii. (1856), 397. We continue perched up, just as we were after our great lift of last December.
1857. C. Gribble, in Merc. Marine Mag. (1858), V. 8. Here there was so much lift of sea, that in getting the anchor, I carried away the windlass purchase.
1870. Lowell, Among My Books, Ser. I. (1873), 132. An almost imperceptible lift of the eyebrow.
1872. Browning, Fifine, lxxxi. No lift of ripple to o’erlap Keel, much less, prow.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, I. v. The broader lift of this gray vault o’erhead.
b. A help on the way given to a foot passenger by allowing him to travel some distance in a vehicle.
1712. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 17 June. I generally get a lift in a coach to town.
1825. Sporting Mag., XVI. 331. Instead of money for frequent ‘lifts,’ the driver receives … presents of game.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xxxv. To get a lift when we can. To walk when we can’t.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., IV. l. 8. Giving patience a lift over a weary road.
c. Sc. and north. dial. The removal of a corpse from the house for burial; the starting of a funeral procession.
1887. in Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v.
1897. G. Neasham, Joshua Lax, 7. The lift was announced to take place at 11 a.m.
2. fig. In various immaterial applications, e.g.: A ‘rise’ in station, prosperity, etc.; promotion; a rise in price; an act of helping, or a circumstance that helps, to a higher or more advanced position. To give († lend) a lift: to ‘give a helping hand’ to. † To give a lift at: to attack. † To have (one) on the lift: ? to have at a disadvantage.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 123. I did suffer them now and then to draw my money, but neither much, nor often, lest when they had me on the lift, they might haue left off.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Communion, v. Another lift like this will make Them both [body and soul] to be together.
1641. ‘Smectymnuus,’ Vind. Answ., v. 66. We would intreat him to lend Bellarmine a lift in answering the famous Doctor Whitakers.
1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. vi. (1739), 32. It is no wonder if the King feeling the incumbrance, gave a lift at the Pope’s power, by stopping the current of Money from England, Rome-wards.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 24 April. The only lift to set him upon his legs.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 69. To give the objection all the lifts we can.
1676. Otway, Don Carlos, IV. i. Plays (1888), 53. Thy foes are tottering, and the day’s thy own, Give them but one lift now, and they go down.
1711. H. Lamp, Autobiog., iii. (1895), 29. I … enter’d my cadet or voluntier in the King’s Life Guard of Swissers, in order to get thereby a little lift.
1770. Burke, Shortening Parlts., Wks. X. 82. A living was to be got for one,… a lift in the Navy for a third.
1794. Godwin, Cal. Williams, 288. You have given the finishing lift to the misfortune that was already destroying him.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, II. i. ¶ 2. My memory wants a lift.
1832. L. Hunt, Sir R. Esher (1850), 120. I shall set myself more on a level with these gentry … by a lift in my fortunes.
1885. Manch. Exam., 14 Oct., 5/4. The extension of the franchise … has given an incalculable forward lift to the principles of the Alliance.
1897. Trans. Highld. Agric. Soc., 142. His spirit, action and style gave him a great ‘lift’ in the show-yard.
b. An elevating influence or effect. ? U.S.
1875. Lowell, Spenser, Prose Wks. 1890, IV. 308. The language and verse of Spenser at his best have an ideal lift in them. Ibid. (1876), Among My Bks., Ser. II. 3. The traveller feels the ennobling lift of such society.
† e. A crisis or emergency; = DEAD LIFT. Obs.
1624. Bp. Mountagu, Immed. Addr., 6. In Extremitie, when my life is at a lift, or my state set vpon a desperate Cast.
1632. Brome, Novella, IV. i. Wks. 1873, I. 145. Fear it not, Mistris, she is as sure at such a lift.
3. An act of lifting or stealing; in older use, † a shift, trick. Obs. exc. dial.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier, D. Such yoong youths … fall then to priuy lifts & cosenages.
1594. 2nd Rep. Faustus, in Thoms, E. E. Prose Rom. (1858), III. 338. Such cranks, such lifts, careers and gambalds as he plaid there.
1621. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metam., Wks. (1640), 54. If for our Linnen we still us’d the lift, And with the hedge … made shift.
1852. Judson, Myst. & Mis. New York, I. iv. 40. When I hear of the boys making a large lift, I always envy them.
1894. Laing, Poems, 12 (E. D. D.). For remember a’ villains began wi’ a lift That by some folk wad scarcely be reckoned a theft.
4. The act or habit of carrying (the head, neck, eyes, etc.) aloft; elevated carriage.
1835. Willis, Pencillings, I. vii. 47. She is a little above middle height, with a fine lift to her head and neck.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xix. The proud lift of her neck was gone.
1870. Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 320. The head set firm on it without any droop or lift of the chin.
1889. Adeline Sergeant, Esther Denison, I. II. xii. 159. There was a happy expectancy in the lift of her eyes as she walked up the country road.
5. Technical uses.
a. Engineering. The action of lifting a load through a vertical distance, or one of several successive distances. Hence, in Coal-mining, ‘a series of workings being prosecuted to the rise at one time’ (Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, p. 201).
1702. Savery, Miner’s Friend, 59. If you have but one Lift one Station or Engine-Room will be sufficient. Ibid., 63. A Custom used in very deep Mines … of raising their Water by several Lifts from Cistern to Cistern.
1860. E. Hull, Coal-fields, Introd. (1861), 5. The ‘Cannel’ seam is reached by means of two ‘lifts’ at a depth of 600 yards.
1867. W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 100. The mines are from 300 to 500 feet deep, sunk in lifts of 40 to 50 feet at a time.
b. Horology. The amount of motion of a watch-balance produced by each impulse of vibration.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 73. If it is found that the lift is unequal from the point of rest the balance spring collet must be shifted in the direction of the least lift till the lift be equal.
† c. Card-playing. The action of lifting or ‘cutting’ a pack of cards; also quasi-concr. one of the portions into which the pack is so divided. Obs.
1674–80. Cotton, Compl. Gamester, 84. When they [fraudulent gamesters] deal … to their Partner they place in the second lift next the top, 1, 2, 3, or four Aces.
1728. Young, Love of Fame, VI. 545. When you’re enamour’d of a lift or cast, What can the preacher more, to make us chast?
d. The distance or extent to which anything rises, e.g., a safety valve, the pestle of an ore stamp, the water in a canal-lock.
1837. J. T. Smith, trans. Vicat’s Mortars, 306. Length of lift 3.937 inches.
1840. H. S. Tanner, Canals & Rail Roads U. S., 252–3. The difference between the levels is termed the lift of the lock, which range from 3 to 30 feet.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 232. Centrifugal pump for draining marshes … adapted for a large quantity of water, with a low lift.
II. A person who lifts.
† 6. slang. One who lifts or takes away and appropriates (something); a thief. (Cf. LIFT v. 8.)
1592. Greene, Art Conny Catch., II. 22. The Lift is he that stealeth or prowleth any plate, iewels,… or such parcels from any place by a sleight conueance vnder his cloke.
c. 1600. Nobody & Somebody, D 3 b. Talke not of the Gayle, ’tis full of limetwigs, lifts, and pickpockets.
1602. Rowlands, Greenes Ghost, 16. Richard Farrie a notable Lift of sixtie yeares of age.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Trav. Twelvepence, I. 71/1. Lifts, Foysts, Cheats, Stands, Decoyes.
III. A device or apparatus for lifting.
7. Naut. pl. ‘Ropes which reach from each mast-head to their respective yard-arms to steady and suspend the ends’ (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.).
1485. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 36. Mayne lyftes … ij.
1611. Cotgr., Balancines, the lifts.
1627. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., v. 24. The top-sail Lifts doe serue for sheats to the top gallant yards, the haling them is called the Topping the Lifts.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., II. 260. The parrels, lifts, and clue-lines soon are gone.
1860. Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 114. The yard is down on the lifts.
8. a. Shoemaking. One of the layers of leather used to form a heel. † b. Wool-carding (see quot. 1688).
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 139. The other [stone] in the shape of the heel of an old shoo, with the Lifts plainly to be distinguish’d.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 92/2. The Lifts are the narrow pieces of Leather which are Nailed about to hold the Leaf on the Board.
1735. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., Lifts,… among the Shoe-makers they are Pieces of Sole Leather put upon the Heels if wooden, or several of ’em one upon another if Leather, in order to make ’em higher or lower.
1880. Times, 21 Sept., 4/4. The heels are built architecturally by selecting lifts of diminishing size.
† 9. In a windmill: ? = lift-tenter. Obs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 340/2. The Parts of a Wind-Mill … the Lift, that which raiseth the Mill-stones higher or lower.
10. An apparatus for raising or lowering persons or things from one floor or level to another; an ascending chamber or compartment; a hoist; = ELEVATOR 3 d. Also, the well or vertical opening in which the apparatus works.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 230. The principle is applicable to dinner-lifts for hotels and mansions.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Lift,… an elevator for sending dishes, &c., up or down from a kitchen.
1861. Beresf. Hope, Eng. Cathedr. 19th C., 128. Great central hotels with their machinery of lifts.
1861. Ann. Reg., 168. Throwing a quantity of waste paper, which he had collected on the upper floors, down the ‘lift.’
1878. Black, Green Past., xxxii. We entered the lift to be conveyed to the floors above.
11. A contrivance on a canal serving as a substitute for a lock. Also = LOCK sb.2 9 c.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 659. Where locks or lifts occur, the stationary steam-engine should drag up the vehicle.
1825. [see LOCK sb.2 9 c].
1875. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
12. A set of pumps in a mine; also, the section of a shaft occupied by one set.
1849. Greenwell, Coal-trade Gloss. (1851), Lift,… a column, or parallel columns, of pumps.
1855. Cornwall, 255. A steam-engine … works nine lifts of pumps, and lifts thirty-six tons six cwt. per stroke.
13. In various applications: see shoe-lift (a shoehorn), window-lift.
IV. The thing lifted.
14. The quantity or weight that can be lifted at one time. Also Sc. a large quantity.
13[?]. Coer de L., 3352. Off gold well twenty mennys lyffte.
1755. Johnson, Lift, in Scotland, denotes a load or surcharge of any thing.
1785. Burns, 2nd Ep. J. Lapraik, 74. Gie me o’ wit an’ sense a lift.
1861. Trollope, Framley P., II. ii. 35. I have used up three lifts of notepaper already in telling people that there is no vacancy for a lobby messenger in the Petty Bag office.
1871. R. Browning, Pr. Hohenst., 100. To find … from handlift and from barrow load, What salts and silts may constitute the earth.
1882. Ogilvie (Annandale), s.v., 2 cwt. is a good lift.
15. dial. A gate without hinges, that must be lifted in order to remove or open it.
1674. Ray, S. & E. C. Words, 70. A Lift: i. e. a Stile that may be opened like a gate. Norf.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Lift, a sort of coarse rough gate … not hung, but [etc.].
1898. Rider Haggard, in Longm. Mag., Nov., 25. The stouter undergrowth is split for hurdles and the rest of less substance twisted into another form of hurdle which is known as a ‘lift.’
16. dial. A particular joint or cut of meat, usually of beef. (The precise application varies according to locality: see quots.)
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 87/2. The Lift, or Buttock, is the Fleshy part of the Thigh of a Cow or Ox.
1790. A. Wilson, To the Famishing Bard, Poet. Wks. (1846), 55. A sirloin huge—a smoking lift, To feed thy keen devouring eye.
1854. A. E. Baker, Northamptonsh. Gloss., Lift.
2. The meat taken out of a flitch of bacon, when the ham is left in;… the fleshy part of the leg.
1888. Sheffield Gloss., Lift, the upper part of the thigh of an ox.
1889. N. W. Linc. Gloss., Lift, half a round of beef.
17. A rising ground.
1825. Scott, Lett. to Mrs. W. Scott, 23 March, in Lockhart. He started the topic of our intended railroad…. I had at my finger end every cut, every lift, every degree of elevation or depression, every pass in the country.
1874. Green, Short Hist., i. § 2. 7. A mere lift of higher ground with a few grey cottages dotted over it.
1885. Helen Jackson, in Century Mag., Nov., 108/1. Here and there in the land were sharp lifts where rocks cropped out, making miniature cliffs overhanging some portions of the brook’s course.
V. 18. attrib. and Comb. (several of these combs. should perh. be referred to the vb. stem), as (sense 1) lift-capstan, -pulley, (sense 10) lift-attendant, -man, railway, -shaft, -well; also lift-bridge, a bridge that may be raised to allow the passage of a boat, e.g., on a canal; lift-gate = sense 15 (Knight); lift-hammer = tilt-hammer = lift-latch, a latch that does not slide, but rises and falls; lift-lock, a canal lock; lift-pump, any pump other than a force-pump; lift-tenter, in windmills, a governor for regulating the speed, by adjusting the sails, or for adjusting the action of grinding machinery according to the speed; lift-wall (see quot.).
1900. Westm. Gaz., 28 June, 6/2. The *lift attendant had sustained terrible injuries.
1850. Proc. Inst. Civ. Engin., IX. 203. Description of a Vertical *Lift Bridge.
1883. G. C. Davies, Norfolk Broads & Rivers, xxv. (1884), 190. At Haddiscoe is a lift-bridge, where a road crosses the Cut.
1495. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 202. *Lyfte Capsteynes.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Lift-hammer, a large hammer.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Lift-latch lock.
1840. H. S. Tanner, Canals & Rail Roads U. S., 100. It [Wisconisco Canal] has 1 guard and 6 lift locks; [etc.].
1883. Daily Tel., 26 Feb., 7/8. Honest … man wants a situation … as *liftman.
1485. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 37. *Left poles with iiij sheves of brasse … ij, left poles with ij sheves of brasse … ij.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Lift-pump, a pump acting by the pressure of the atmosphere on the external body of water.
1893. Daily News, 13 March, 3/7. The Clifton Rocks Railway, a *lift railway cut in a tunnel from the Gorge of the Avon to the summit of Clifton Rocks.
1894. Times, 14 Feb., 14/1. The position it had then reached left a sufficient opening, between the floor of the lift and the top of the door leading from the *liftshaft on to the next floor, for the occupants to pass through.
1824. R. Stuart, Steam Engine, 133. The attached balls, which were called a *lift-tenter, by their centrifugal force either raised or lowered a stage in which the arbour of the spindle revolved, and brought the mill-stones nearer, or removed them farther from each other, as they might be adjusted.
1841. Brees, Gloss. Civ. Engin., *Lift-wall, the cross wall of a lock chamber.
1897. Daily News, 3 Dec., 8/3. The deceased was found … at the bottom of the *lift-well.
