Etymologically
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lift

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /lɪft/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English liften, borrowed from Old Norse lypta (“to raise”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną,[2] a verb formed from the Germanic noun for “air, sky”, the source of loft,[2][3] so that it once meant “to move up into the air”.[2] Middle Low German lüchten, Dutch lichten and German lüften “to lift” are related.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To raise in rank or dignity, to exalt: about 1200 in Etymonline and Barnhart, in the Ormulum;[2][3] to raise from the ground, pick up, about 1300 (a1300 in the OED).[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning “to steal”, as in shoplift, is from the 1520s.[2] Of clouds or fog, to rise or seem to rise is from 1834.[2] The face-lift sense of surgery is from 1921 in Etymonline, 1922 in the OED.[2][5] The noun was first a load a man can carry (the mid-14th century), then the act of lifting (1485, in Malory).[2][3] A free ride for a walker in a vehicle is from 1712, in Swift's Journal to Stella.[3][5] Lift for a machine that raises people between floors is from 1851 (a dumbwaiter) and 1861 (a passenger lift), and is now British, where Americans say elevator.[3][2] The upward force on an aircraft's wings is by 1902.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – to exalt.[2][3]
  • c. 1300 – to raise from the ground.[2]
  • 1485 – noun, the act of lifting.[3]
  • 1520s – to steal.[2]
  • 1712 – a ride in a vehicle.[5][3]
  • 1851 – a hoisting machine.[3][2]
  • 1902 – aerodynamic lift.[2]
  • 1921 – surgical, to lift the face.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To raise to a higher position.
  2. To rise or seem to rise, as fog does.
  3. To end a ban or restriction.
  4. To make someone feel happier.
  5. (informal) To steal or plagiarize.

Noun

  1. (British) A machine that carries people or goods between floors; an elevator.
  2. A free ride in a car.
  3. A feeling of encouragement.
  4. The upward force acting on an aircraft's wing.

Word family

  • liftable
  • lifter
  • uplift
  • airlift
  • shoplift
  • loft
  • aloft

Usage notes

A different lift, from Old English lyft “air, sky”, survives in Scots and poetry for the sky or heavens.[6][4][2]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press