'Shifter' definitions:

Definition of 'shifter'

noun

A stagehand responsible for moving scenery [syn: sceneshifter, shifter]

noun

A mechanical device for engaging and disengaging gears; "in Britain they call a gearshift a gear lever" [syn: gearshift, gearstick, shifter, gear lever]

Definition of 'Shifter'

From: GCIDE

Shifter \Shift"er\, n.
1. One who, or that which, shifts; one who plays tricks or practices artifice; a cozener. [1913 Webster]
'T was such a shifter that, if truth were known, Death was half glad when he had got him down. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
2. (Naut.) An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions. [1913 Webster]
3. (Mach.) (a) An arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to another. (b) (Knitting Mach.) A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing, etc. [1913 Webster]
4. (construction, tunneling) A foreman responsible for the work on one shift in one area, as in one heading[4]. [RDH]