Skip to definition.
Get the FREE one-click dictionary software for Windows or the iPhone/iPad and Android apps


Verb: lift  lift
  1. Take from a lower to a higher position
    "Lift a load";
    - raise, elevate, get up, bring up
     
  2. Raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help
    "lift the bicycle onto the roof of the car";
    - hoist, wind[2]
     
  3. Take hold of something and move it to a different location
    "lift the box onto the table"
     
  4. Cause to move upwards
    "lift one's eyes";
    - raise
     
  5. Move upward
    "The fog lifted";
    - rise, arise, move up, go up, come up, uprise
     
  6. Make audible
    "He lifted a war whoop"
     
  7. Cancel officially
    "lift an embargo";
    - revoke, annul, countermand, reverse, repeal, overturn, rescind, vacate
     
  8. Take by theft
    - hook [informal], snitch [informal], thieve, cop [informal], knock off [informal], glom [N. Amer, informal], pilfer, cabbage [informal], purloin, pinch [Brit, informal], abstract, snarf [N. Amer, informal], swipe [informal], sneak [informal], filch [informal], nobble [Brit, informal], whip [Brit, informal], nick [Brit, informal], snatch [informal], blag [Brit, informal]
     
  9. Invigorate or heighten
    "lift his ego"; "lift my spirits";
    - raise
     
  10. Increase in condition, wealth, quality of life, etc.
    "The new law lifted many people from poverty";
    - raise, elevate
     
  11. Take off or away by decreasing
    "lift the pressure"
     
  12. Become or appear high or tall
    "The building lifted before them";
    - rise, rear
     
  13. Pay off (a mortgage)
     
  14. Take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual property
    "Technology can be used to cheat or lift";
    - plagiarize, plagiarise [Brit]
     
  15. [informal] Take illegally
    "lift cattle";
    - rustle
     
  16. Fly people or goods to or from places not accessible by other means
    "Food is lifted into Bosnia";
    - airlift
     
  17. Take (root crops) out of the ground
    "lift potatoes"
     
  18. Call to stop the hunt or to retire, as of hunting dogs
     
  19. Rise upward, as from pressure or moisture
    "The floor is lifting slowly"
     
  20. Put an end to
    "lift a ban";
    - raise
     
  21. Remove (hair) by scalping
     
  22. Remove from a seedbed or from a nursery
    "lift the tulip bulbs"
     
  23. Remove from a surface
    "the detective carefully lifted some fingerprints from the table"
     
  24. Perform cosmetic surgery on someone's face
    - face-lift
Noun: lift  lift
  1. [Brit] Lifting device consisting of a platform or cage that is raised and lowered mechanically in a vertical shaft in order to move people from one floor to another in a building
    - elevator [N. Amer, Austral, NZ]
     
  2. A powered conveyance that carries skiers up a hill
    - ski tow, ski lift
     
  3. The act of raising something
    "he responded with a lift of his eyebrow";
    - raise, heave
     
  4. The event of something being raised upward
    - elevation, raising
     
  5. A ride in a car
    "he gave me a lift home"
     
  6. The act of giving temporary assistance
     
  7. The component of the aerodynamic forces acting on an airfoil that opposes gravity
    - aerodynamic lift
     
  8. A wave that lifts the surface of the water or ground
    - rise
     
  9. A device worn in a shoe or boot to make the wearer look taller or to correct a shortened leg
     
  10. One of the layers forming the heel of a shoe or boot
     
  11. Plastic surgery to remove wrinkles and other signs of aging from your face; an incision is made near the hair line and skin is pulled back and excess tissue is excised
    "some actresses have more than one face lift";
    - face lift, facelift, face lifting, cosmetic surgery, rhytidectomy, rhytidoplasty, nip and tuck [informal]
     
  12. Transportation of people or goods by air (especially when other means of access are unavailable)
    - airlift

Derived forms: lifting, lifted, lifts

Type of: actuation, aerodynamic force, aid, alter, ameliorate, amend, anaplasty, appear, ascension, ascent, assist, assistance, bed, better, buckle, call, cancel, change, conveyance, device, dig, dig out, displace, drive, emit, end, fly, go, heave, help, improve, layer, let loose, let out, lifting device, liquidate, locomote, look, meliorate, mend, modify, move, moving ridge, operate, operate on, pay off, plastic surgery, propulsion, reconstructive surgery, remove, ride, rip [N. Amer, informal], rip off [informal], rise, rising, scalp, seem, send for, steal, strike down, take, take away, terminate, transfer, transferral, transport, transportation, travel, utter, warp, wave, withdraw

Part of: building, edifice, heel

Encyclopedia: Lift