shift(1) (iou) and visionary (iou)

shift(1) (iou)

shift noun. ME.
[from the verb.]
A movement to do something, a beginning. Only in ME.
A share, a portion assigned on division. LME-E17.
An expedient, an ingenious device, a stratagem; (obsolete exc. dial.) an available means of achieving an end (freq. in (have) no Other shift). E16.
Bosworth Smith The thousand shifts and devices of which Hannibal was a master.
b. Ingenuity, initiative, resourcefulness. Cf. SHIFTLESS. rare. M16.
c. Means of living, livelihood. Freq. in honest shift. Scot. L16-L18.
spec.
a. A fraudulent or deceiving device or expedient, a trick, a subterfuge. M16.
b. An expedient necessitated by circumstances, a forced measure. M17.
J. G. Holland That pride..that resorts to desperate shifts rather than incur an obligation.
A set or succession of things of the same kind. M16-E17.
a. (A) change of clothing. Now arch. & dial. M16.
b. A change of wind. L16.
a. Hist. A woman's loose-fitting undergarment, orig. worn also by men; a slip, a chemise. L16.
b. A woman's loose, straight, unwaisted dress. M20.
Each of the successive crops in a course of rotation; a field used for such crops. obsolete exc. Scot. E18.
A relay or change of workers or (formerly) horses. Now spec., a group of people working for a specific period of time, usu. one equivalent to a day's work; a period worked by such a group of people. E18.
graveyard shift, night shift, split shift, twilight shift, etc. attrib.: shift system, shift work, shift worker, etc.
Listener A thousand men working in three shifts round the clock.
Music. A change of hand position on the finger-board of a violin etc. L18.
The action or an instance of shifting; a transfer, a transition; (a) change, a move; dial. a change of residence or Employment; Bridge a change of suit in bidding or (US) playing. E19.
T. Benn The Labour Party exists to bring about a shift in the balance of power and wealth. H. Kohut Psychoanalysis needed a decisive shift in emphasis. R. Holt A shift towards a more casual..style of life.
b. Physics. A displacement of a spectral line from the expected position or from some Reference position; a change of an energy level in an atom, molecule, etc. L19.
c. A systematic change in pronunciation as a language evolves. L19.
consonant shift, vowel shift, etc.
d. Amer. Football. A change of position made immediately before a snap by two or more players of the team in possession of the ball. E20.
e. Chemistry. A migration of an atom or group, or of electrons, from one point in a molecule to another, or occas. between molecules, in a chemical reaction. M20.
f. Computing. The movement of the digits of a word in a register one or more places to left or right, equivalent to multiplying or dividing the corresponding number by a power of whatever number is the base. M20.
The correct arrangement of joints in brickwork, plates in shipbuilding, etc. E19.
Mining. A slight fault or dislocation in a seam or stratum. E19.
a. The mechanism for or an act of changing the action of a piano etc. keyboard with the soft pedal. L19.
b. A motor vehicle's gear lever or transmission system; a change of gear. Cf. gear-shift s.v. GEAR noun. N. Amer. E20.
J. Osborne A 1956 Chevrolet..car complete with automatic shift.
a. In full shift key. A key on a typewriter etc. keyboard for switching between upper and lower case etc. L19.
b. A switch between cases, fonts, etc., on a typewriter or printer. Also, a set of characters indicated by a particular shift code. E20.
c. Computing & Telegraphy. In full shift character, shift code. A character or code that causes subsequent characters to be produced in a different font, case, or coding scheme. M20.
Phrases: blue shift: see BLUE adjective. chemical shift in nuclear magnetic resonance or M?ssbauer spectroscopy, the position of a resonance in the spectrum measured relative to some standard signal, the separation being characteristic of the chemical environment of the resonating nucleus. drive to one's shifts: see put to one's shifts below. get a shift on colloq. = get a move on s.v. MOVE noun. make a shift, make shift (a) (now dial.) make efforts, try all means; (b) be successful; (c) succeed with difficulty, contrive or manage with effort to do something; (d) get by, manage somehow, be content, put up (with). put to one's shifts, drive to one's shifts arch. drive to desperate measures. red shift: see RED adjective. risky shift: see RISKY 1. sound shift = sense 11c above.
Comb.: shift character, shift code: see sense 15c above; shift dress = sense 7b above; shift key: see sense 15a above; shift-lever N. Amer. a gear lever; shift lock a device for holding the shift key of a typewriter etc. continuously depressed; shift register Computing a register specifically intended for subjecting data to a shift (sense 11f above); shift-round colloq. an exchange or reallocation of positions; shift-stick colloq. a gear lever; shift-terminator Computing a character introduced into a string of text to cancel the effect of a preceding shift code; shift valve a valve moving to produce automatic gear-changes in a motor vehicle.

visionary (iou)

visionary adjective & noun. M17.
[from VISION noun + -ARY1.]
A. adjective.
Given to seeing visions; capable of receiving impressions or obtaining knowledge by this means. Also transf., far-sighted, percipient. M17.
A. B. Jameson A strange..visionary child, to whom an unseen world had revealed itself. Omni If visionary physicist Hal Puthoff is proved right, we may soon have a new..energy source.
b. Given to fanciful and impractical ideas or theories; speculative, dreamy. E18.
J. Bonnycastle We laugh at the absurdities of a visionary pretender.
Of the Nature of a vision; presented in a vision; seen only in a vision; spectral. M17.
Dickens By what visionary hands she was led along.
b. Connected with or pertaining to a vision or visions. M18.
J. Adair Having intimidated themselves..with visionary notions.
Existing in imagination only; having no base in reality; characterized by fantasy. Also, (of a scheme, plan, etc.) unable to be carried out or realized; purely speculative; unpracticable. E18.
Pope Vanish'd are all the visionary joys. D. Leavitt He had been..sidetracked by..wrongheaded and visionary notions.
b. noun.
A person who receives knowledge of unknown or future things in visions. Also transf., a person with vision or foresight. E18.
Methodist Recorder Commitment to overseas students started with the work of visionaries like Hilda Porter. S. Hill That..bliss which saints and visionaries..attempted to describe.
A person who indulges in speculative or fanciful ideas or schemes. E18.
H. Martineau Being treated as a visionary, and..laughed at as absurd.
visionariness noun E19.

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