lift.
To raise or rise.
Meaning & usage
To raise or rise.
The fog eventually lifted, leaving the streets clear.
You never lift a finger to help me!
To raise or rise. To cause to move upwards.
To steal.
To source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise.
To arrest (a person).
To remove (a ban, restriction, etc.).
To alleviate, to lighten (pressure, tension, stress, etc.)
To disperse, to break up.
To lift weights; to weight-lift.
She lifts twice a week at the gym.
To try to raise something; to exert the strength for raising or bearing.
To elevate or improve in rank, condition, etc.; often with up.
To bear; to support.
To collect, as moneys due; to raise.
Given morphisms f and g with the same target: To produce a morphism which the given morphism factors through (i.e. a morphism h such that f=g∘h; cf. lift n.etymology 1, noun 20)
Given morphisms f and g with the same target: To produce a morphism which the given morphism factors through (i.e. a morphism h such that f=g∘h; cf. lift n.etymology 1, noun 20) To transform (a function) into a corresponding function in a different context.
To buy a security or other asset previously offered for sale.
To take (hounds) off the existing scent and move them to another spot.
Where this word comes from
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)). But perhaps simply from the idea of removing an item from a surface.
An act of lifting or raising.
The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip.
He gave me a lift to the bus station.
A mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building.
Take the lift to the fourth floor.
A mechanical device for raising vehicles for service, so that it is easier for a mechanic to get beneath them.
An upward force; especially, the force (generated by wings, rotary wings, or airfoils) that keeps aircraft aloft.
Any technique for lifting weights.
The difference in elevation between the upper pool and lower pool of a waterway, separated by lock.
A thief.
The lifting of a dance partner into the air.
Permanent construction with a built-in platform that is lifted vertically.
An improvement in mood.
The amount or weight to be lifted.
What's the maximum lift of this crane?
The space or distance through which anything is lifted.
A rise; a degree of elevation.
the lift of a lock in canals
A liftgate.
A rope leading from the masthead to the extremity of a yard below, and used for raising or supporting the end of the yard.
One of the steps of a cone pulley.
A layer of leather in the heel of a shoe.
That portion of the vibration of a balance during which the impulse is given.
A morphism which some given morphism factors through; i.e. given a pair of morphisms f:X→Y and g:Z→Y, a morphism h such that f=g∘h. (In this case h is said to be a lift of f via Z or via g).
A shorter extract from a commercial/advertisement, able to be used on its own.
Where this word comes from
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)). But perhaps simply from the idea of removing an item from a surface.
Air.
The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere.
Where this word comes from
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”). Doublet of loft and luft.
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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.