hoist

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To raise or haul up, often with the help of a mechanical apparatus. synonym: lift.
• intransitive verb To raise to one's mouth in order to drink.
• intransitive verb To become raised or lifted.
• noun An apparatus for lifting heavy or cumbersome objects.
• noun The act of hoisting; a lift.
• noun The height or vertical dimension of a flag or of any square sail other than a course.
• noun A group of flags raised together as a signal.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To raise; lift; elevate; especially, to raise by means of block and tackle or other machinery.
• noun Past participle of hoise, regularly hoised.
• noun The act of hoisting; a lift.
• noun That by which something is hoisted; a machine for raising ore, merchandise, passengers, etc., in a mine, warehouse, hotel, etc.; an elevator.
• noun The perpendicular height of a flag or ensign, as opposed to the fly, or breadth from the staff to the outer edge; also, the extent to which a sail or yard may be hoisted: as, give the sail more hoist.
• noun Nautical, a number of flags fastened together for hoisting as a signal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To raise; to lift; to elevate; esp., to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle, as a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight.
• transitive verb a steam engine for operating a hoist.
• past participle obsolete Hoisted.
• noun That by which anything is hoisted; the apparatus for lifting goods.
• noun colloq. The act of hoisting; a lift.
• noun The perpendicular height of a flag, as opposed to the fly, or horizontal length when flying from a staff.
• noun The height of a fore-and-aft sail next the mast or stay.
• noun a drawbridge that is lifted instead of being swung or drawn aside.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb transitive To raise; to lift; to elevate; especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, as a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight.
• verb transitive, historical To lift someone up to be flogged.
• verb intransitive To be lifted up.
• noun A hoisting device, such as pulley or crane.
• noun The perpendicular height of a flag, as opposed to the fly, or horizontal length, when flying from a staff.
• noun The vertical edge of a flag which is next to the staff.
• noun The height of a fore-and-aft sail, next the mast or stay.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun lifting device for raising heavy or cumbersome objects
• verb raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help
• verb raise
• verb move from one place to another by lifting