Definition: lift

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

lift
     n 1: the act of giving temporary assistance
     2: the component of the aerodynamic forces acting on an airfoil
        that opposes gravity [syn: aerodynamic lift]
     3: the event of something being raised upward [syn: elevation,
         raising]
     4: a wave that lifts the surface of the water or ground [syn: rise]
     5: conveyance that carries skiers up a hill [syn: ski tow, ski
        lift]
     6: 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 [syn: elevator]
     7: a ride in a car; "he gave me a lift home"
     8: the act of raising something; "he responded with a lift of
        his eyebrow"; "fireman learn several different raises for
        getting ladders up" [syn: raise, heave, elevation]
     v 1: raise from a lower to a higher position; "Raise your hands";
          "Lift a load" [syn: raise, elevate, get up, bring
          up] [ant: lower]
     2: take hold of something and move it to a different location;
        "lift the box onto the table"
     3: move upwards; "lift one's eyes" [syn: raise]
     4: move upward; "The fog lifted"; "The smoke arose from the
        forest fire"; "The mist uprose from the meadows" [syn: rise,
         arise, move up, go up, come up, uprise] [ant: descend]
     5: make audible; "He lifted a war whoop"
     6: annul by recalling or rescinding; "He revoked the ban on
        smoking"; "lift an embargo"; "vacate a death sentence"
        [syn: revoke, annul, countermand, reverse, repeal,
         overturn, rescind, vacate]
     7: make off with belongings of others [syn: pilfer, cabbage,
         purloin, pinch, abstract, snarf, swipe, hook,
         sneak, filch, nobble]
     8: raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help; "hoist
        the bicycle onto the roof of the car" [syn: hoist, wind]
     9: invigorate or heighten; "lift my spirits", "lift his ego"
        [syn: raise]
     10: raise in rank or condition: "The new law lifted many people
         from poverty" [syn: raise, elevate]
     11: take off or away by decreasing; "lift the pressure"
     12: rise up; "The building rose before them" [syn: rise, rear]
     13: pay off; as of mortgages
     14: take without referencing from someone else's writing or
         speech; of intellectual property [syn: plagiarize, plagiarise]
     15: take illegally, as of cattle [syn: rustle]
     16: fly people or goods to or from places not accessible by
         other means: "Food is airlifted into Bosnia" [syn: airlift]
     17: take out of the ground, of root crops; "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, as of a siege or a blockade; "lift a ban";
         "raise a siege" [syn: raise]
     21: remove by scalping, of hair
     22: remove from a seedbed or form a nursery, as of bulbs
     23: remove from a surface, of fingerprints
     24: perform cosmetic surgery on someone's face [syn: face-lift]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Lift \Lift\, n.
   1. Act of lifting; also, that which is lifted.

   2. The space or distance through which anything is lifted;
      as, a long lift. --Bacon.

   3. Help; assistance, as by lifting; as, to give one a lift in
      a wagon. [Colloq.]

            The goat gives the fox a lift.        --L'Estrange.

Lift \Lift\ (l[i^]ft), n. [AS. lyft air. See Loft.]
   The sky; the atmosphere; the firmament. [Obs. or Scot.]

Lift \Lift\ (l[i^]ft), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Lifted; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Lifting.] [Icel. lypta, fr. lopt air; akin to Sw.
   lyfta to lift, Dan. l["o]fte, G. l["u]ften; -- prop., to
   raise into the air. See Loft, and cf. 1st Lift.]
   1. To move in a direction opposite to that of gravitation; to
      raise; to elevate; to bring up from a lower place to a
      higher; to upheave; sometimes implying a continued support
      or holding in the higher place; -- said of material
      things; as, to lift the foot or the hand; to lift a chair
      or a burden.

Lift \Lift\ (l[i^]ft), v. i.
   1. To try to raise something; to exert the strength for
      raising or bearing.

            Strained by lifting at a weight too heavy. --Locke.

   2. To rise; to become or appear raised or elevated; as, the
      fog lifts; the land lifts to a ship approaching it.

   3. [See Lift, v. t., 5.] To live by theft. --Spenser.