hoist.
To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight).
Meaning & usage
To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight).
To lift a trophy or similar prize into the air in celebration of a victory.
To lift someone up to be flogged.
To be lifted up.
To extract (code) from a loop construct as part of optimization.
To steal.
To rob.
Where this word comes from
Alteration of earlier hoise (“to hoist”), apparently based on the past tense forms, from Middle Dutch hisen (“to hoist”). Compare modern Dutch hijsen (“to hoist”), German hissen (“to hoist”), Danish hejse (“to hoist”). Compare also French hisser (“to hoist”), Galician isar (“to hoist”), Spanish izar (“to hoist”), Catalan hissar (“to hoist”), Italian issare (“to hoist”), Portuguese içar (“to hoist”), Sicilian jisari (“to hoist”), all borrowed from a Germanic source.
Any member of certain classes of devices that hoist things.
The act of hoisting; a lift.
Give me a hoist over that wall.
The triangular vertical position of a flag, as opposed to the flying state, or triangular vertical position of a sail, when flying from a mast.
The position of a flag (on a mast) or of a sail on a ship when lifted up to its highest level.
The position of a main fore-and-aft topsail on a ship and fore fore-and-aft topsail on a ship.
Where this word comes from
Alteration of earlier hoise (“to hoist”), apparently based on the past tense forms, from Middle Dutch hisen (“to hoist”). Compare modern Dutch hijsen (“to hoist”), German hissen (“to hoist”), Danish hejse (“to hoist”). Compare also French hisser (“to hoist”), Galician isar (“to hoist”), Spanish izar (“to hoist”), Catalan hissar (“to hoist”), Italian issare (“to hoist”), Portuguese içar (“to hoist”), Sicilian jisari (“to hoist”), all borrowed from a Germanic source.
Try it on your idea.
hoist has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.