'Shifting' definitions:
Definition of 'shifting'
From: WordNet
adjective
Continuously varying; "taffeta with shifting colors"
adjective
Changing position or direction; "he drifted into the shifting crowd"; "their nervous shifting glances"; "shifty winds" [syn: shifting, shifty]
adjective
(of soil) unstable; "shifting sands"; "unfirm earth" [syn: shifting, unfirm]
noun
The act of moving from one place to another; "his constant shifting disrupted the class" [syn: shift, shifting]
Definition of 'Shifting'
From: GCIDE
- Shift \Shift\ (sh[i^]ft), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Shifting.] [OE. shiften, schiften, to divide, change, remove. AS. sciftan to divide; akin to LG. & D. schiften to divide, distinguish, part Icel. skipta to divide, to part, to shift, to change, Dan skifte, Sw. skifta, and probably to Icel. sk[imac]fa to cut into slices, as n., a slice, and to E. shive, sheave, n., shiver, n.]
- 1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- To which God of his bounty would shift Crowns two of flowers well smelling. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To change the place of; to move or remove from one place to another; as, to shift a burden from one shoulder to another; to shift the blame. [1913 Webster]
- Hastily he schifte him[self]. --Piers Plowman. [1913 Webster]
- Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days, Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways. --Tusser. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to turn; as, to shift the helm or sails. [1913 Webster]
- Carrying the oar loose, [they] shift it hither and thither at pleasure. --Sir W. Raleigh. [1913 Webster]
- 4. To exchange for another of the same class; to remove and to put some similar thing in its place; to change; as, to shift the clothes; to shift the scenes. [1913 Webster]
- I would advise you to shift a shirt. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 5. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to have patience to shift me. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 6. To put off or out of the way by some expedient. "I shifted him away." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- To shift off, to delay; to defer; to put off; to lay aside.
- To shift the scene, to change the locality or the surroundings, as in a play or a story. [1913 Webster]
- Shift the scene for half an hour; Time and place are in thy power. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Shifting'
From: GCIDE
- Shifting \Shift"ing\, a.
- 1. Changing in place, position, or direction; varying; variable; fickle; as, shifting winds; shifting opinions or principles. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Adapted or used for shifting anything. [1913 Webster]
- Shifting backstays (Naut.), temporary stays that have to be let go whenever the vessel tacks or jibes.
- Shifting ballast, ballast which may be moved from one side of a vessel to another as safety requires.
- Shifting center. See Metacenter.
- Shifting locomotive. See Switching engine, under Switch. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'shifting'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- aberrancy,
- aberrant,
- aberration,
- aberrative,
- adrift,
- afloat,
- alternating,
- alternation,
- amorphous,
- bend,
- bias,
- bickering,
- boggling,
- branching off,
- capricious,
- captiousness,
- caviling,
- changeable,
- changeful,
- chicane,
- chicanery,
- circuitous,
- circuitousness,
- circumforaneous,
- corner,
- crook,
- curve,
- dangerous,
- declination,
- departing,
- departure,
- desultory,
- detour,
- deviable,
- deviance,
- deviancy,
- deviant,
- deviating,
- deviation,
- deviative,
- deviatory,
- devious,
- deviousness,
- digression,
- digressive,
- discursion,
- discursive,
- divagation,
- divagatory,
- divarication,
- divergence,
- diversion,
- dizzy,
- dodging,
- dogleg,
- double,
- drift,
- drifting,
- eccentric,
- equivocation,
- errant,
- errantry,
- erratic,
- evasion,
- excursion,
- excursive,
- excursus,
- exorbitation,
- fast and loose,
- fencing,
- fickle,
- fitful,
- flickering,
- flighty,
- flitting,
- floating,
- fluctuating,
- fluctuation,
- footloose,
- footloose and fancy-free,
- freakish,
- fugitive,
- gadding,
- giddy,
- gypsy-like,
- gypsyish,
- hairpin,
- hairsplitting,
- hazardous,
- hedging,
- impetuous,
- impulsive,
- inconsistent,
- inconstant,
- indecisive,
- indirect,
- indirection,
- infirm,
- insecure,
- insubstantial,
- irregular,
- irresolute,
- irresponsible,
- labyrinthine,
- landloping,
- logic-chopping,
- mazy,
- meandering,
- mercurial,
- migrational,
- migratory,
- moody,
- nit-picking,
- nomad,
- nomadic,
- obliquity,
- oscillation,
- out-of-the-way,
- paltering,
- parrying,
- pendulation,
- pererration,
- perilous,
- pettifoggery,
- planetary,
- precarious,
- prevarication,
- provisional,
- pussyfooting,
- quibbling,
- rambling,
- ranging,
- restless,
- risky,
- roaming,
- roving,
- scatterbrained,
- seesawing,
- serpentine,
- shaky,
- shapeless,
- sheer,
- shift,
- shifting course,
- shifting path,
- shifty,
- shuffling,
- sidestepping,
- skew,
- slant,
- slippery,
- snaky,
- spasmodic,
- spineless,
- straggling,
- stray,
- straying,
- strolling,
- subterfuge,
- sweep,
- swerve,
- swerving,
- swinging,
- tack,
- teeter-tottering,
- teetering,
- temporary,
- tentative,
- tergiversation,
- ticklish,
- tottering,
- traipsing,
- transient,
- transitory,
- transmigratory,
- treacherous,
- trichoschistism,
- turn,
- turning,
- twist,
- twisting,
- unaccountable,
- uncertain,
- uncontrolled,
- undependable,
- undirected,
- undisciplined,
- unfaithworthy,
- unfixed,
- unpredictable,
- unreliable,
- unrestrained,
- unsettled,
- unsolid,
- unsound,
- unstable,
- unstable as water,
- unstaid,
- unsteadfast,
- unsteady,
- unsubstantial,
- unsure,
- untrustworthy,
- vacillating,
- vacillation,
- vagabond,
- vagrant,
- variable,
- variation,
- veer,
- veering,
- vicissitude,
- vicissitudinary,
- vicissitudinous,
- volatile,
- wandering,
- wanton,
- warp,
- wavering,
- wavery,
- wavy,
- wayward,
- whimsical,
- winding,
- wishy-washy,
- yaw,
- zigzag
Words containing 'Shifting'
- Shift,
- Shifted,
- Shiftingly,
- To shift off,
- Half shift,
- Shifting backstays,
- Shifting ballast,
- Shifting center,
- Shifting locomotive,
- Shifting use,
- To make shift,
- To shift the helm,
- To shift the scene,
- consonant shifting,
- day shift,
- doppler shift,
- evening shift,
- graveyard shift,
- night shift,
- population shift,
- red shift,
- shift key,
- shift register,
- sound shifting,
- split shift,
- stick shift,
- swing shift,
- work shift