Lift

Lift - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

LIFT, v.t. [We retain this sense in shoplifter. L. levo, elevo.]

1. To raise; to elevate; as, to lift the foot or the hand; to lift the head.

2. To raise; to elevate mentally.

To thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Psa 25.

3. To raise in fortune.

The eye of the Lord lifted up his head from misery.

4. To raise in estimation, dignity or rank. His fortune has lifted him into notice, or into office.

The Roman virtues lift up mortal man.

5. To elate; to cause to swell, as with pride. Up is often used after lift, as a qualifying word; sometimes with effect or emphasis; very often, however, it is useless.

6. To bear; to support.

7. To steal, that is, to take and carry away. Hence we retain the use of shoplifter, although the verb in this sense is obsolete.

8. In Scripture, to crucify.

When ye have lifted up the Son of man. John 8.

1. To lift up the eyes, to look; to fix the eyes on.

Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld Jordan. Gen 13.

2. To direct the desires to God in prayer. Psa 121.

1. To lift up the head, to raise from a low condition; to exalt. Gen 40.

2. To rejoice. Luke 21.

1. To lift up the hand, to swear, or to confirm by oath. Gen 14.

2. To raise the hands in prayer. Psa 28.

3. To rise in opposition to; to rebel; to assault.

2 Sam 18.

4. To injure or oppress. Job 31.

5. To shake off sloth and engage in duty. Heb 41.

To lift up the face, to look to with confidence, cheerfulness and comfort. Job 22.

To lift up the face, to look to with confidence, cheerfulness and comfort. Job 22.

To lift up the heel against, to treat with insolence and contempt.

To lift up the horn, to behave arrogantly or scornfully. Psa 75.

To lift up the feet, to come speedily to one's relief.

Psa 74.

To lift up the voice, to cry aloud; to call out, either in grief or joy. Gen 21. Isa 24.

LIFT, v.i.

1. To try to raise; to exert the strength for the purpose of raising or bearing.

The body strained by lifting at a weight too heavy -

2. To practice theft. Obs.

LIFT, n.

1. The act of raising; a lifting; as the lift of the feet in walking or running.

The goat gives the fox a lift.

2. An effort to raise; as, give us a lift. [Popular use.]

3. That which is to be raised.

4. A dead lift, an ineffectual effort to raise; or the thing which the strength is not sufficient to raise.

5. Any thing to be done which exceeds the strength; or a state of inability; as, to help one at a dead lift.

6. A rise; a degree of elevation; as the lift of a lock in canals.

7. In Scottish, the sky; the atmosphere; the firmament.

8. In seamen's language, a rope descending from the cap and mast-head to the extremity of a yard. Its use is to support the yard, keep it in equilibrio, and raise the end, when occasion requires.

To make lofty, to raise up. A very common word in English Versions of the Bible representing a great variety of Hebrew and Greek words, although in the Old Testament used chiefly as the translation of nasa'. Of none of these words, however, is "lift" used as a technical translation, and "lift" is interchanged freely with its synonyms, especially "exalt" (compare Ps 75:5; 89:24) and "raise" (compare Ec 4:10; 2Sa 12:17). "Lift" is still perfectly good English, but not in all the senses in which it is used in English Versions of the Bible; e.g. such phrases as "men that lifted up axes upon a thicket" (Ps 74:5), "lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins" (Ps 74:3, etc.), and even the common "lift up the eyes" or "hands" are distinctly archaic. However, almost all the uses are perfectly clear, and only the following need be noted. "To lift up the head" (Ge 40:13,19,20; 2Ki 25:27; Ps 3:3; Sirach 11:13; Lu 21:28) means to raise from a low condition (but on Ps 24:7,9 see GATE). To "lift up the horn" (Ps 75:5) is to assume a confident position, the figure being taken from fighting oxen (see HORN). "Lift up the face" may be meant literally (2Ki 9:32), or it may denote the bestowal of favor (Ps 4:6); it may mean the attitude of a righteous man toward God (Job 22:26), or simply the attitude of a suppliant (Ezr 9:6).

Burton Scott Easton