shifter

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun One who shifts or changes: as, a scene -shifter.
• noun Nautical, a person employed to assist the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions.
• noun A contrivance used in shifting.
• noun One who is given to change; a fickle person; also, one who resorts to petty shifts or expedients; one who practises artifice; a dodger; a trickster; a cozener.

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

• noun One who, or that which, shifts; one who plays tricks or practices artifice; a cozener.
• noun (Naut.) An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions.
• noun An arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to another.
• noun (Knitting Mach.) A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing, etc.
• noun (construction, tunneling) A foreman responsible for the work on one shift in one area, as in one heading{4}.

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

• noun One who, or that which, shifts or changes.
• noun dated One who plays tricks or practices artifice; a cozener.
• noun nautical An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions.
• noun engineering An arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to another.
• noun engineering, textiles A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing, etc.
• noun cycling A component used by the rider to control the gearing mechanisms and select the desired gear ratio, usually connected to the derailleur by a mechanical actuation cable.

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

• noun a stagehand responsible for moving scenery
• noun a mechanical device for engaging and disengaging gears