Shifter

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Shifter \Shift"er\, 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].
        [RDH]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  shifter
       n 1: a stagehand responsible for moving scenery [syn: {sceneshifter}]
       2: a mechanical device for engaging and disengaging gears; "in
          England they call a gearshift a gear lever" [syn: {gearshift},
           {gearstick}, {gear lever}]