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adrift
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adv 1: floating freely; not anchored; "the boat wasset adrift"
2: off course, wandering aimlessly; "there was a search for
beauty that had somehow gone adrift"
adj 1: aimlessly drifting [syn: adrift(p), afloat(p),
aimless, directionless, planless, rudderless,
undirected]
2: afloat on the surface of a body of water; "after the storm
the boats were adrift"
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airlift
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n 1: transportation of people or goods by air (especially when
other means of access are unavailable) [syn: airlift,
lift]
v 1: fly people or goods to or from places not accessible by
other means; "Food is airlifted into Bosnia" [syn:
airlift, lift]
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downshift
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n 1: a change from a financially rewarding but stressful career
to a less well paid but more fulfilling one
2: a change to a lower gear in a car or bicycle
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drift
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n 1: a force that moves something along [syn: drift,
impetus, impulsion]
2: the gradual departure from an intended course due to external
influences (as a ship or plane)
3: a process of linguistic change over a period of time
4: a large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by
water currents
5: a general tendency to change (as of opinion); "not openly
liberal but that is the trend of the book"; "a broad movement
of the electorate to the right" [syn: drift, trend,
movement]
6: the pervading meaning or tenor; "caught the general drift of
the conversation" [syn: drift, purport]
7: a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine;
"they dug a drift parallel with the vein" [syn: drift,
heading, gallery]
v 1: be in motion due to some air or water current; "The leaves
were blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake";
"The sailboat was adrift on the open sea"; "the shipwrecked
boat drifted away from the shore" [syn: float, drift,
be adrift, blow]
2: wander from a direct course or at random; "The child strayed
from the path and her parents lost sight of her"; "don't
drift from the set course" [syn: stray, err, drift]
3: move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in
search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the woods";
"roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam
across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the
next"; "They rolled from town to town" [syn: roll,
wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble,
rove, range, drift, vagabond]
4: vary or move from a fixed point or course; "stock prices are
drifting higher"
5: live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely; "My son drifted
around for years in California before going to law school"
[syn: freewheel, drift]
6: move in an unhurried fashion; "The unknown young man drifted
among the invited guests"
7: cause to be carried by a current; "drift the boats
downstream"
8: drive slowly and far afield for grazing; "drift the cattle
herds westwards"
9: be subject to fluctuation; "The stock market drifted upward"
10: be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a
current; "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting
like snow"
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festschrift
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n 1: a collection of writings published in honor of a scholar
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forklift
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n 1: a small industrial vehicle with a power operated forked
platform in front that can be inserted under loads to lift
and move them
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gift
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n 1: something acquired without compensation
2: natural abilities or qualities [syn: endowment, gift,
talent, natural endowment]
3: the act of giving [syn: giving, gift]
v 1: give qualities or abilities to [syn: endow, indue,
gift, empower, invest, endue]
2: give as a present; make a gift of; "What will you give her
for her birthday?" [syn: give, gift, present]
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lift
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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, lift]
3: the event of something being raised upward; "an elevation of
the temperature in the afternoon"; "a raising of the land
resulting from volcanic activity" [syn: elevation, lift,
raising]
4: a wave that lifts the surface of the water or ground [syn:
lift, rise]
5: a powered conveyance that carries skiers up a hill [syn: ski
tow, ski lift, lift]
6: a device worn in a shoe or boot to make the wearer look
taller or to correct a shortened leg
7: one of the layers forming the heel of a shoe or boot
8: 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, lift]
9: plastic surgery to remove wrinkles and other signs of aging
from your face; an incision is made near the hair line and
skin is pulled back and excess tissue is excised; "some
actresses have more than one face lift" [syn: face lift,
facelift, lift, face lifting, cosmetic surgery,
rhytidectomy, rhytidoplasty, nip and tuck]
10: transportation of people or goods by air (especially when
other means of access are unavailable) [syn: airlift,
lift]
11: a ride in a car; "he gave me a lift home"
12: the act of raising something; "he responded with a lift of
his eyebrow"; "fireman learn several different raises for
getting ladders up" [syn: lift, raise, heave]
v 1: raise from a lower to a higher position; "Raise your
hands"; "Lift a load" [syn: raise, lift, elevate,
get up, bring up] [ant: bring down, get down, let
down, lower, take down]
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: lift, raise]
4: move upward; "The fog lifted"; "The smoke arose from the
forest fire"; "The mist uprose from the meadows" [syn:
rise, lift, arise, move up, go up, come up,
uprise] [ant: come down, descend, fall, go down]
5: make audible; "He lifted a war whoop"
6: cancel officially; "He revoked the ban on smoking"; "lift an
embargo"; "vacate a death sentence" [syn: revoke, annul,
lift, 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, lift]
8: raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help; "hoist
the bicycle onto the roof of the car" [syn: hoist, lift,
wind]
9: invigorate or heighten; "lift my spirits"; "lift his ego"
[syn: raise, lift]
10: raise in rank or condition; "The new law lifted many people
from poverty" [syn: lift, raise, elevate]
11: take off or away by decreasing; "lift the pressure"
12: rise up; "The building rose before them" [syn: rise,
lift, rear]
13: pay off (a mortgage)
14: take without referencing from someone else's writing or
speech; of intellectual property [syn: plagiarize,
plagiarise, lift]
15: take illegally; "rustle cattle" [syn: rustle, lift]
16: fly people or goods to or from places not accessible by
other means; "Food is airlifted into Bosnia" [syn:
airlift, lift]
17: take (root crops) out of the ground; "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; "lift a ban"; "raise a siege" [syn: lift,
raise]
21: remove (hair) by scalping
22: remove from a seedbed or from a nursery; "lift the tulip
bulbs"
23: remove from a surface; "the detective carefully lifted some
fingerprints from the table"
24: perform cosmetic surgery on someone's face [syn: face-
lift, lift]
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makeshift
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adj 1: done or made using whatever is available; "crossed the
river on improvised bridges"; "the survivors used jury-
rigged fishing gear"; "the rock served as a makeshift
hammer" [syn: improvised, jury-rigged, makeshift]
n 1: something contrived to meet an urgent need or emergency
[syn: makeshift, stopgap, make-do]
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rift
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n 1: a gap between cloud masses; "the sun shone through a rift
in the clouds"
2: a narrow fissure in rock
3: a personal or social separation (as between opposing
factions); "they hoped to avoid a break in relations" [syn:
rupture, breach, break, severance, rift, falling
out]
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shift
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n 1: an event in which something is displaced without rotation
[syn: shift, displacement]
2: a qualitative change [syn: transformation, transmutation,
shift]
3: the time period during which you are at work [syn: shift,
work shift, duty period]
4: the act of changing one thing or position for another; "his
switch on abortion cost him the election" [syn: switch,
switching, shift]
5: the act of moving from one place to another; "his constant
shifting disrupted the class" [syn: shift, shifting]
6: (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the
displacement of one side with respect to the other; "they
built it right over a geological fault"; "he studied the
faulting of the earth's crust" [syn: fault, faulting,
geological fault, shift, fracture, break]
7: a crew of workers who work for a specific period of time
8: the key on the typewriter keyboard that shifts from lower-
case letters to upper-case letters [syn: shift key,
shift]
9: a woman's sleeveless undergarment [syn: chemise, shimmy,
shift, slip, teddy]
10: a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders
without a waist [syn: chemise, sack, shift]
v 1: make a shift in or exchange of; "First Joe led; then we
switched" [syn: switch, change over, shift]
2: change place or direction; "Shift one's position" [syn:
shift, dislodge, reposition]
3: move around; "transfer the packet from his trouser pockets to
a pocket in his jacket" [syn: transfer, shift]
4: move very slightly; "He shifted in his seat" [syn: stir,
shift, budge, agitate]
5: move from one setting or context to another; "shift the
emphasis"; "shift one's attention"
6: change in quality; "His tone shifted"
7: move and exchange for another; "shift the date for our class
reunion"
8: move sideways or in an unsteady way; "The ship careened out
of control" [syn: careen, wobble, shift, tilt]
9: move abruptly; "The ship suddenly lurched to the left" [syn:
lurch, pitch, shift]
10: use a shift key on a keyboard; "She could not shift so all
her letters are written in lower case"
11: change phonetically as part of a systematic historical
change; "Grimm showed how the consonants shifted"
12: change gears; "you have to shift when you go down a steep
hill"
13: lay aside, abandon, or leave for another; "switch to a
different brand of beer"; "She switched psychiatrists"; "The
car changed lanes" [syn: switch, shift, change]
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shoplift
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v 1: steal in a store
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shrift
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n 1: the act of being shriven
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sift
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v 1: move as if through a sieve; "The soldiers sifted through
the woods"
2: separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device
to separate out coarser elements; "sift the flour" [syn:
sift, sieve, strain]
3: check and sort carefully; "sift the information" [syn:
sieve, sift]
4: distinguish and separate out; "sift through the job
candidates" [syn: sieve, sift]
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snowdrift
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n 1: a mass of snow heaped up by the wind
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spendthrift
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adj 1: recklessly wasteful; "prodigal in their expenditures"
[syn: extravagant, prodigal, profligate,
spendthrift]
n 1: someone who spends money prodigally [syn: spendthrift,
spend-all, spender, scattergood]
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spindrift
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n 1: spray blown up from the surface of the sea [syn:
spindrift, spoondrift]
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swift
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adj 1: moving very fast; "fleet of foot"; "the fleet scurrying
of squirrels"; "a swift current"; "swift flight of an
arrow"; "a swift runner" [syn: fleet, swift]
n 1: United States meat-packer who began the use of refrigerated
railroad cars (1839-1903) [syn: Swift, Gustavus Franklin
Swift]
2: an English satirist born in Ireland (1667-1745) [syn:
Swift, Jonathan Swift, Dean Swift]
3: a small bird that resembles a swallow and is noted for its
rapid flight
4: common western lizard; seen on logs or rocks [syn: western
fence lizard, swift, blue-belly, Sceloporus
occidentalis]
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thrift
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n 1: any of numerous sun-loving low-growing evergreens of the
genus Armeria having round heads of pink or white flowers
2: extreme care in spending money; reluctance to spend money
unnecessarily [syn: parsimony, parsimoniousness,
thrift, penny-pinching]
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uplift
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n 1: (geology) a rise of land to a higher elevation (as in the
process of mountain building) [syn: upheaval, uplift,
upthrow, upthrust]
2: a brassiere that lifts and supports the breasts
v 1: fill with high spirits; fill with optimism; "Music can
uplift your spirits" [syn: elate, lift up, uplift,
pick up, intoxicate] [ant: cast down, deject,
demoralise, demoralize, depress, dismay,
dispirit, get down]
2: lift up from the earth, as by geologic forces; "the earth's
movement uplifted this part of town"
3: lift up or elevate
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facelift
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n 1: plastic surgery to remove wrinkles and other signs of aging
from your face; an incision is made near the hair line and
skin is pulled back and excess tissue is excised; "some
actresses have more than one face lift" [syn: face lift,
facelift, lift, face lifting, cosmetic surgery,
rhytidectomy, rhytidoplasty, nip and tuck]
2: a renovation that improves the outward appearance (as of a
building) but usually does not involve major changes; "give
your home a facelift"; "more than a facelift, the new model
marks a fundamental change of direction" [syn: face lift,
facelift, face lifting]
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chairlift
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n 1: a ski lift on which riders (skiers or sightseers) are
seated and carried up or down a mountainside; seats are
hung from an endless overhead cable [syn: chairlift,
chair lift]
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clift
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credithrift
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grift
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upshift
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squiffed
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boatlift
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