lift

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of raising something

   I responded with a lift of my eyebrow.

2. 2
   noun

   a ride in a car

   They gave me a lift home.

3. 3
   verb

   remove from a surface

   the detective carefully lifted some fingerprints from the table

4. 4
   verb

   take off or away by decreasing

   lift the pressure

5. 5
   verb

   remove from a seedbed or from a nursery

   lift the tulip bulbs

6. 6
   verb

   put an end to

   lift a ban

7. 7
   verb

   rise upward, as from pressure or moisture

   The floor is lifting slowly

8. 8
   verb

   raise in rank or condition

   The new law lifted many people from poverty

Etymology

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.