shifter
nounEtymology From shift + -er.
13 senses
- 1One who, or that which, shifts or changes.
- 2A word whose meaning changes depending on the situation…
- 3Someone who plays tricks; a trickster.
- 4An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, soaking, and…
- 5A control device (usually a lever or button) for…
- 6A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another…
- 7A component used by the rider to control the gearing…
- 8A spanner with an adjustable jaw size.
- 9A person employed to repair the horseways and other…
- 10A switcher or shunter: a railroad locomotive used for shunting.
- 11A shape-shifter; a person or other being capable of…
- 12A shiftworker.
- 13Ellipsis of reality shifter.
One who, or that which, shifts or changes.
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A word whose meaning changes depending on the situation, as by deixis.
- The cigarette is analogous to what linguists call a shifter, like the word I ; this device for expressing the irreducible particularity of my innermost self is universally available to every speaker and is thus the least particular thing in the world. The smoker manipulates the cigarette, like the word I, to tell stories to him/herself about him/herself — or to an other.1995, Richard Klein, “Introduction”, in Cigarettes are sublime, Paperback edition, Durham: Duke University Press, published 1993, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 9:
Dated Someone who plays tricks; a trickster.
- 'Twas ſuch a ſhifter, that if truth were known, / Death was half glad when he had got him down;1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “On the Univerſity Carrier […] ”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC, page 28:
Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A control device (usually a lever or button) for shifting gears in a gearbox, or an arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to another.
Business, Engineering, Manufacturing, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Textiles A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing, etc.
Australia, Especially A spanner with an adjustable jaw size.
Business, Mining Historical A person employed to repair the horseways and other passages, and keep them unobstructed.
Pennsylvania, US A switcher or shunter: a railroad locomotive used for shunting.
Fantasy, Human sciences, Literature, Media, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, Publishing, Science fiction, Sciences A shape-shifter; a person or other being capable of changing their physical form, especially a lycanthrope.
A shiftworker.
Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of reality shifter.
- Derived terms
- barrel shifter, brifter, column shifter, downshifter, frameshifter, graveyard shifter, left-handed smoke shifter, nymshifter, paddle shifter, phase shifter, quickshifter, quick shifter, sceneshifter, scene-shifter, shapeshifter, shifter cart, split shifter, swing shifter, video shifter, woodshifter
- Related terms
- stickshift