a. (Genetics) of, pertaining to, or causing a type of mutation consisting of the insertion or deletion of one or more nucleotides in the nucleic acid structure of a gene, when the number of base pairs inserted or deleted is not a multiple of three. If the addition or deletion occurs in multiples of three, the unaffected nucleotides in the genome remain in the proper order ("frame") to be correctly translated into protein; in such cases of insertions or deletions not causing a frame shift, a functional though altered protein may be produced by the organism. Frameshift mutations cause more profound changes in the composition of the protein resulting from translation of the mutated gene. [ PJC ]

n. That with which one makes shift; a temporary expedient, with implication of inferiority to the more usual object or means. James Mill. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

I am not a model clergyman, only a decent makeshift. G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who moves the scenes in a theater; a sceneman. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Shifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Shifting. ] [ OE. shiften, schiften, to divide, change, remove. AS. sciftan to divide; akin to LG. & D. schiften to divide, distinguish, part Icel. skipta to divide, to part, to shift, to change, Dan skifte, Sw. skifta, and probably to Icel. skīfa to cut into slices, as n., a slice, and to E. shive, sheave, n., shiver, n. ] 1. To divide; to distribute; to apportion. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To which God of his bounty would shift
Crowns two of flowers well smelling. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To change the place of; to move or remove from one place to another; as, to shift a burden from one shoulder to another; to shift the blame. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hastily he schifte him[ self ]. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days,
Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways. Tusser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to turn; as, to shift the helm or sails. [ 1913 Webster ]

Carrying the oar loose, [ they ] shift it hither and thither at pleasure. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To exchange for another of the same class; to remove and to put some similar thing in its place; to change; as, to shift the clothes; to shift the scenes. [ 1913 Webster ]

I would advise you to shift a shirt. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

As it were to ride day and night; and . . . not to have patience to shift me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To put off or out of the way by some expedient. “I shifted him away.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To shift off, to delay; to defer; to put off; to lay aside. --
To shift the scene, to change the locality or the surroundings, as in a play or a story. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shift the scene for half an hour;
Time and place are in thy power. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To divide; to distribute. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Some this, some that, as that him liketh shift. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make a change or changes; to change position; to move; to veer; to substitute one thing for another; -- used in the various senses of the transitive verb. [ 1913 Webster ]

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to contrive; to manage. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men in distress will look to themselves, and leave their companions to shift as well as they can. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To practice indirect or evasive methods. [ 1913 Webster ]

All those schoolmen, though they were exceeding witty, yet better teach all their followers to shift, than to resolve by their distinctions. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Naut.) To slip to one side of a ship, so as to destroy the equilibrum; -- said of ballast or cargo; as, the cargo shifted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Icel. skipti. See Shift, v. t. ] 1. The act of shifting. Specifically: (a) The act of putting one thing in the place of another, or of changing the place of a thing; change; substitution. [ 1913 Webster ]

My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) A turning from one thing to another; hence, an expedient tried in difficulty; often, an evasion; a trick; a fraud. “Reduced to pitiable shifts.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Little souls on little shifts rely. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's under-garment; a chemise. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The change of one set of workmen for another; hence, a spell, or turn, of work; also, a set of workmen who work in turn with other sets; as, a night shift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. In building, the extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mus.) A change of the position of the hand on the finger board, in playing the violin. [ 1913 Webster ]

To make shift, to contrive or manage in an exigency. “I shall make shift to go without him.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] [ They ] made a shift to keep their own in Ireland. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Admitting of being shifted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, shifts; one who plays tricks or practices artifice; a cozener. [ 1913 Webster ]

'T was such a shifter that, if truth were known,
Death was half glad when he had got him down. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mach.) (a) An arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to another. (b) (Knitting Mach.) A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (construction, tunneling) A foreman responsible for the work on one shift in one area, as in one heading{ 4 }. [ RH ]

n. The quality or state of being shifty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Diplomatic shiftiness and political versatility. J. A. Syminds. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Changing in place, position, or direction; varying; variable; fickle; as, shifting winds; shifting opinions or principles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Adapted or used for shifting anything. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shifting backstays (Naut.), temporary stays that have to be let go whenever the vessel tacks or jibes. --
Shifting ballast, ballast which may be moved from one side of a vessel to another as safety requires. --
Shifting center. See Metacenter. --
Shifting locomotive. See Switching engine, under Switch. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a shifting manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of expedients, or not using successful expedients; characterized by failure, especially by failure to provide for one's own support, through negligence or incapacity; hence, lazy; improvident; thriftless; as, a shiftless fellow; shiftless management. -- Shift"less*ly, adv. -- Shift"less*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of, or ready with, shifts; fertile in expedients or contrivance. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The trick of a shopkeeper; deception. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. That may &unr_;ot be shifted. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Shiftless; helpless. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]