lift

Etymology 1

From Middle English liften, lyften, from Old Norse lypta (“to lift, air”, literally “to raise in the air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną (“to raise in the air”), related to *luftuz (“roof, air”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”) or from a root meaning roof (see *luftuz). Cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål løfte (“to lift”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lyfta (“to lift”), German lüften (“to air, lift”), Old English lyft (“air”). See above. 1851 for the noun sense "a mechanical device for vertical transport". (To steal): For this sense Cleasby suggests perhaps a relation to the root of Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌹𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 (hliftus) "thief", cognate with Latin cleptus and Greek κλέπτω (kléptō)).

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To raise or rise.
   The fog eventually lifted, leaving the streets clear.
   You never lift a finger to help me!
   c. 1490, Of Penance and Confession be master Jhon Yrlandː Liftand (lifting) thy hands and thy eyen to Heaven.
   Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on). 7 February 2015, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8
2. (transitive, slang) To steal.
   Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border side, And he has lifted the Colonel's mare that is the Colonel's pride. 1919, Rudyard Kipling, The Ballad of East and West
3. (transitive, slang) To source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise.
   Based on a similarity across a range of Anglo-Indian entries in these three dictionaries, it appears that (along with other lexis) Barrère and Leland (1898) copied this entry from Hotten (1864), who had in turn lifted it directly from Stocqueler (1848). 2018, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles”, in World Englishes, volume 37, page 258
4. (transitive, slang) To arrest (a person).
   Maybe the police lifted him and he's in Castlereagh [Interrogation Centre] because he'd been lifted three or four times previously and took to Castlereagh. They used to come in and raid the house and take him away. 2000, Marie Smyth, Marie-Therese Fay, Personal Accounts From Northern Ireland's Troubles
5. (transitive) To remove (a ban, restriction, etc.).
6. (transitive) To alleviate, to lighten (pressure, tension, stress, etc.)
   The Gunners boss has been heavily criticised for his side's poor start to the Premier League season but this result helps lift the pressure. September 24, 2011, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport
7. (transitive) to cause to move upwards.
   Graham secured victory with five minutes left, coolly lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic. October 2, 2011, Aled Williams, “Swansea 2 - 0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport Wales
8. (informal, intransitive) To lift weights; to weight-lift.
   She lifts twice a week at the gym.
9. To try to raise something; to exert the strength for raising or bearing.
   strained by lifting at a weight too heavy
10. To elevate or improve in rank, condition, etc.; often with up.
11. (obsolete) To bear; to support.
12. To collect, as moneys due; to raise.
13. (programming) To transform (a function) into a corresponding function in a different context.
    Finally, we can lift a partial function into a regular (total) function that returns an Option or a Some(value) when the partial function is defined for the input argument or None when it isn't. 2021, Dean Wampler, chapter 2, in Programming Scala, 3rd edition, O'Reilly
14. (finance) To buy a security or other asset previously offered for sale.
15. (hunting, transitive) To take (hounds) off the existing scent and move them to another spot.
    I lifted the hounds (hoping to catch the leading ones there) to the far side of Hallaton Thorns. 1885, Lina Chaworth Musters, Book of Hunting Songs and Sport, page 144

noun

1. An act of lifting or raising.
2. The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip.
   He gave me a lift to the bus station.
3. (UK, Australia, New Zealand) Mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building.
   Take the lift to the fourth floor.
4. An upward force, such as the force that keeps aircraft aloft.
5. (measurement) The difference in elevation between the upper pool and lower pool of a waterway, separated by lock.
6. (historical slang) A thief.
   The lift came into the shop dressed like a country gentleman, but was careful not to have a cloak about him, so that the tradesman could see he had no opportunity to conceal any goods about his person. 1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society, published 2006, page 32
7. (dance) The lifting of a dance partner into the air.
8. Permanent construction with a built-in platform that is lifted vertically.
9. (figurative) An improvement in mood.
   Just to think he had both a mistress and a wife gave him a lift. He needed a lift, for although he'd had promotion, his wasn't an exciting job. 2010, Anne Baker, With a Little Luck
   The dismissal of a player who left Arsenal for Manchester City before joining Tottenham gave the home players and fans a noticeable lift. November 17, 2012, “Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport
10. The amount or weight to be lifted.
    What's the maximum lift of this crane?
11. The space or distance through which anything is lifted.
12. A rise; a degree of elevation.
    the lift of a lock in canals
13. A liftgate.
14. (nautical) A rope leading from the masthead to the extremity of a yard below, and used for raising or supporting the end of the yard.
15. (engineering) One of the steps of a cone pulley.
16. (shoemaking) A layer of leather in the heel of a shoe.
17. (horology) That portion of the vibration of a balance during which the impulse is given.
    some measure the total lift and others only the lift on one side , a quantity which is not exactly half of the total lift 1887, Claudius Saunier, A Treatise on Modern Horology in Theory and Practice

Etymology 2

From Middle English lifte, luft, lefte (“air, sky, heaven”), from Old English lyft (“atmosphere, air”), from Proto-West Germanic *luftu, from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“roof, sky, air”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”). Cognate with Old High German luft (“air”) (German Luft), Dutch lucht (“air”), Old Norse lopt, loft (“upper room, sky, air”). More at loft.

noun

1. (UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Air.
2. (UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere.
   No, no, Leddy! the sun maun be up in the lift whan I venture to her den. 1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, act 1, page 13