Added 8 October 2026
lift
/lɪft/ verb
In Latin: tollō Wiktionary
verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about lift at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
noun
- An act of lifting or raising.
-
The act of transporting someone in a vehicle; a ride; a trip.
He gave me a lift to the bus station.
-
A mechanical device for vertically transporting goods or people between floors in a building.
Take the lift to the fourth floor.
noun
- The sky; the heavens; firmament; atmosphere.
Origin
From Middle English liften, lyften, from Old Norse lypta (“to lift, air”, literally “to raise in the air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną (“to raise in the air”), related to *luftuz (“roof, air”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”) or from a root meaning roof (see *luftuz). Cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål løfte (“to lift”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lyfta (“to lift”), German lüften (“to air, lift”), Old English lyft (“air”). See above. 1851 for the noun sense "a mechanical device for vertical transport".
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)