Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Middle English form of
shift .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word skift.
Examples
-
Tristram, I have heard much of your maugre against me, but I will not meddle with you as at this time by my will, because I dread the lord of this place that hath us in governance; for an I dread him not more than I do thee, soon it should be skift: so they peaced themself.
-
And wit thou well, said sir Dinadan, this same is sir Tristram at a word, and now must thou do thy best with him, and let see now if ye can skift it with your hands.
-
'Say! why he said he'd oather hev his brass at ten o'clock to-morn, or skift us wi' law.
Lancashire Idylls (1898) Marshall Mather
-
Sir Palomides, then said sir Tristram, I have heard much of your maugre against me, but I will not meddle with you as at this time by my will, because I dread the lord of this place that hath us in governance; for an I dread him not more than I do thee, soon it should be skift: so they peaced themself.
-
And wit thou well, said sir Dinadan, this same is sir Tristram at a word, and now must thou do thy best with him, and let see now if ye can skift it with your hands.
-
So t 'lads kept hollain' out to him to look sharp an 'skift hissen, or he'd get left behind.
More Tales of the Ridings Frederic William Moorman 1895
-
Uncle Cephas was a shoemaker, and he never went to sea much, only to anchor his skift in the Narrows abreast of his house, and catch a mess of scup, or to pole a load of salt-hay from San-quitt Island.
Five Hundred Dollars First published in the "Century Magazine" Heman White Chaplin 1885
-
You see, ef I kep 'on tryin' to git away afoot, de dogs 'ud track me; ef I stole a skift to cross over, dey'd miss dat skift, you see, en dey'd know 'bout whah I'd lan' on de yuther side, en whah to pick up my track.
-
'Long 'bout six in de mawnin 'skifts begin to go by, en 'bout eight er nine every skift dat went 'long wuz talkin' 'bout how yo 'pap come over to de town en say you's killed.
-
You see, ef I kep 'on tryin' to git away afoot, de dogs 'ud track me; ef I stole a skift to cross over, dey'd miss dat skift, you see, en dey'd know 'bout whah I'd lan' on de yuther side, en whah to pick up my track.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 06 to 10 Mark Twain 1872
AnWulf commented on the word skift
skift - (a) A share, portion; lot, fate; (b) an effort, attempt, a try
skift (v) - (a) To divide or share out something; distribute, divide up; also, be divided; ~ in sonder, disperse (a group of people), scatter; ~ me even, give me my fair share; even skifted, evenly matched in number, in equal strength; (b) to arrange, ordain; arrange, ordain, cause to occur; also, rule (a country), manage (a horse); also, protect (sb.), save; be skifted of, evade, be rid of.
From OE sciftan.
October 29, 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word skift
"With the skift of snow, temperatures on Thursday are expected to hold in the low 40s."
-- http://journalstar.com/news/local/a-skift-of-snow-degrees-on-the-horizon/article_1837a68e-45a0-509d-bc4a-ac770281a1bd.html
February 25, 2016
qms commented on the word skift
Experience has made me leery of commenting on American regionalisms because some people can get quite choleric about a fondness for one's native idiom. But I lived many years in Michigan, an inoffensive state, where they used the term "skiff" for this meteorological phenomenon. My neighbors were amused at my East Coast ignorance of the term. There is something about the word in a Chigago newpaper:
The origin is not clear, but some think it came from the Scottish verb "skiff," which means to lightly move across a surface barely touching it, as perhaps a "skiff" of snow barely covers the ground. The term appears to be colloquial, used mainly in northern parts of the country and in Canada to describe a minor rainfall or snowfall or a light breeze. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a skiff as "a slight gust of wind or shower of rain, etc. Also, a light flurry or cover of snow."
February 25, 2016
alexz commented on the word skift
my snow list has skifter of snow
spotted in the comments section of http://www.word-detective.com/2009/08/skiff/
The Scots will have to update their 'words for snow list'
February 25, 2016