# lift

Pronunciation: say "LIFT" /lɪft/

## Verb

1. To raise something or someone to a higher position, or to try to do so with effort; also, to rise or move upward.
   - Simple: To pick something up or move it higher, or to rise.
   - _It took two of us to lift the sofa onto the back of the truck._
   - _Hot air makes a balloon lift off the ground._
2. To remove or end a ban, restriction, or similar rule.
   - Simple: To officially end a rule that stops people from doing something.
   - _The government decided to lift the trade restrictions._
   - _Authorities lifted the travel ban after the storm passed._
3. To raise someone or something to a higher rank, condition, or status, often with up.
   - Simple: To raise someone or something to a better level or position.
   - _Education can lift people into better careers._
   - _The reforms lifted the region out of decades of decline._
7. To train by raising heavy weights as a form of exercise. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To exercise by raising heavy weights.
   - _She lifts every morning before work._
   - _Athletes who lift regularly build serious muscle._
10. To ease or reduce something such as pressure, tension, or stress.
   - Simple: To make a bad feeling like stress or worry less heavy.
   - _The good news lifted the tension in the room._
   - _Counseling helped lift the stress she had carried for months._
13. To copy material directly from a source and use it without giving credit. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To copy someone else's work and use it as your own.
   - _The journalist lifted several lines from a press release._
   - _Students who lift passages from the internet risk failing._
15. To steal something, especially by taking it quietly or casually. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To steal, or take something that is not yours.
   - _She lifted a scarf from the boutique without paying._
   - _Pickpockets lift phones from distracted tourists._
18. To arrest someone; to take a person into police custody. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To catch and take away a person, the way police do.
   - _Officers lifted two men in connection with the robbery._
   - _They planned to lift the ringleader before he could flee._

## Noun

4. A mechanical device that vertically transports people or goods between the floors of a building. *(Australia, India, New Zealand, UK)*
   - Simple: A machine that carries people or goods up and down between the floors of a building.
   - _Take the lift to the third floor and turn left._
   - _The office building has six lifts serving twenty floors._
5. A permanent installation with a built-in platform that moves vertically to raise or lower people or goods.
   - Simple: A built-in platform that moves straight up and down to raise people or goods.
   - _The garage installed a lift strong enough to raise a full-size truck for repairs._
   - _The mechanic raised the car on the hydraulic lift so he could work underneath it._
6. An instance of raising or hoisting something to a higher position.
   - Simple: A single action of raising something off the ground.
   - _It took four movers and one slow, steady lift to get the piano onto the stage._
   - _The weightlifter's final lift earned him the gold medal._
8. An instance of carrying someone in a vehicle; a ride.
   - Simple: A free ride that someone gives you in their car.
   - _He gave his neighbor a lift to the airport._
   - _Thanks for the lift, because I would have missed the train otherwise._
9. The upward force generated by wings, rotors, or airfoils that keeps an aircraft in the air.
   - Simple: The upward push that keeps an airplane in the air.
   - _Engineers shaped the wing to maximize lift at low speeds._
   - _The helicopter's rotors generate lift by pushing air downward._
11. A rise in someone's mood or spirits; a feeling of renewed cheer or encouragement.
   - Simple: A boost that makes you feel happier.
   - _Her visit gave the patients a much-needed lift._
   - _The team got a lift from the crowd's cheering._
12. A rise; a slight increase in height or elevation.
   - Simple: A rise or an upward slope in something.
   - _The path had a noticeable lift before leveling off at the ridge._
   - _A small lift in the terrain marked the old riverbank._
14. The amount or weight that is to be raised or hoisted.
   - Simple: The weight or load that has to be raised.
   - _Because the lift was nearly twenty tons, the crew brought in a second crane._
   - _A lift of two tons required the larger crane._
16. A move in which a dancer raises their partner up off the floor and into the air.
   - Simple: In dance, the move where one partner raises the other up into the air.
   - _The pair rehearsed the overhead lift until it felt completely secure._
   - _The crowd gasped when he raised his partner over his head in a perfect lift._
17. The vertical distance through which something is raised, such as the difference in water level by which a canal lock raises or lowers a boat.
   - Simple: How far up something is raised, such as how high a canal lock raises a boat.
   - _Engineers measured the lift of the platform from its resting position._
   - _The jack provides only a few inches of lift at a time._

## Noun

19. A thief; especially a pickpocket or petty robber. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A thief, especially someone who steals from pockets.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A rear door or panel on a vehicle, hinged at the top, that swings upward to allow loading.
- (verb) To collect money that is due; to raise funds.
- (verb) To buy a security or other asset that had been offered for sale.
- (noun) A shorter extract from a commercial that can stand on its own as a separate spot.
- (noun) A layer of leather forming part of the built-up heel of a shoe.
- (noun) A rope running from the masthead to the end of a yard, used to raise or support that end.
- (verb) To take hounds off the scent they are following and move them to another spot.
- (noun) In category theory, a morphism through which a given morphism factors, so that the original map equals a second morphism composed with it.
- (verb) To break up and scatter, as a gathering does when the people in it go their separate ways.
- (verb) To hold up or carry the weight of something.
- (verb) In category theory, given two morphisms ending at the same object, to find a third morphism through which the first factors via the second.
- (verb) In mathematics and programming, to turn a function into a matching function that works in a broader or different setting.
- (noun) Any of the stepped wheels of different sizes that a belt can run on in a stepped pulley.
- (noun) In a watch, the part of the balance wheel's swing during which it receives its push from the escapement.
- (noun) The air around us.
- (noun) The sky above, the vault of the heavens.

## Origin

From Middle English liften, from Old Norse lypta ('to lift'), literally 'to raise in the air', from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną, related to a root meaning 'roof' or 'air', and perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- ('to peel, break off'). It is related to German lüften and Swedish lyfta. The noun sense of a mechanical device for vertical transport dates from 1851, and the 'to steal' sense may be tied to a root meaning 'thief' (compare Greek kléptō).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/lift (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).