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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

S(c)hift, v. Also: schyft, shifte, chift(e; cheft. P.p. also (schifitt). [ME and e.m.E. scift(en (c1175), shifftedenn (Orm), shifte(n (c1250), schift (Cursor M.), schefte(n (a1400), chifte (Piers Plowman), OE sciftan, MLG, MDu. schiften to divide, separate, ON skipta.]

I. To arrange.

1. reflex. To mak (oneself) chifte, ? to arrange, ordain or prepare oneself, to make ready (to do something). a1400 Leg. S. iii 903.
The bischope than … Sat done thar and mad hym chifte In gud lasere to here hyr schrift

II. To change.

2. tr. To reject, get rid of, shed (a person or thing) (from, of a position).(1) 1513 Doug. i Prol. 490.
Thocht sum wald swer … I haue this volume quyte myscareit … Or ȝit argue Virgill stude weill befor, As now war tyme to schift the werst our scor c1610 Melville Mem. 357.
His maieste caused wret for me to be send in England [etc.] … At my commyng to court I did what I could to be schifted of the said commission … Yet his maieste wald tak na excuse bot thocht meit to send me ther 1647 Baillie III 20.
I … resolved to absent myselfe … if by no other mean I could be shifted [? from] the leett. At last … I gott myself off, and Mr. Robert Dowglas on the leetts a1658 Durham Comm. Rev. 459.
The heathens … shifted that absurdity of worshipping the works of their hands c1680 Mackenzie Affairs 12.
Lauderdale … had not … got leisure to shift that old aversion he carried for Montrose(2) c1590 J. Stewart 85/183.
Cairfullie he socht Till schift the sorrow that so did him schoir

b. To schift (one's) seid or child, to induce an abortion or miscarriage. a1568 Scott iv 71.
Maidis hes slicht To play and tak no pane, Syne chift thair seid fra sicht 1706 Rothesay Par. Rec. 225.
Suspecting the said Bryce's reason … was of purpose to see if he might get her child shifted

3. To turn aside (a plea, proposal or petition); to deal with by evasive replies or failure to act or respond.Also, with the action proposed as object. 1568 Hosack Mary Q. of Scots I 540.
The Erle of [Lennox … craved] that they mycht be put in ward … , ȝit she vtterlie neglectit schiftit and delayit the same 1568 Anderson Collect. Mary IV ii 66.
Quhilk being schifitt delayit, and in the end uterlie refusit be him, he escapit be flicht 1570-3 Bann. Trans. 167.
He wald have schifted the mater be some colorat meinis, and in this fetche [etc.] 1622 Aberd. Eccl. Rec. 102.
The sessioun anssered … that often befoir thay had schifted proces with such verball offeris c1630 Scot Narr. 200.
Say they, ‘It behoveth to … agree upon them at the nixt Generall Assembly … ;' and so they shifted the matter 1666-74 Fraser Polichron. 488.
Ogilvy and his brother, … though they shifted the action and ingagement the night before, yet concurred with others to [etc.]

b. To put off, or turn away, (a suitor, questioner, etc.) by evasion, postponement or the like.The quots. f. Montg. below and under c may properly belong to another sense. a1605 Montg. Sonn. xix 14.
I crave no more of ȝou Bot shift me not vhill ȝe haif slane my sou 1625 Acts V 168/2.
If by slouthe or malice the clerk salhappin to delay or schift the leigis resorting to the saidis courtis … the saidis clerkis salbe pvnist accordinglie 1638 Rothes Affairs Kirk 108.
Felix, who shifted Paull, and wold have heard him another tyme, bot never had the occasione 1638 Rec. Kirk Scotl. 150.
The clerk … schiftit me … because the bishop … caused him adde a point to my sentence that I was not sentenced for 1666-74 Fraser Polichron. 337.
The magistrates had obscured themselves to shift him, and were not to be trusted 1677 Renfrewshire Witches 54.
A woman … asked her [a question] … but the young wench shifted her by asking the woman's name

c. ? To treat (a petitioner) in a casual or unfeeling manner; to discard. a1605 Montg. Sonn. xx 2.
How long will ȝe the poets patience prove? Shaip ȝe to shift him lyk a pair of cartis?

d. To reject (a proposal or request). 1618 Melrose P. 626*.
The articles wer … onlie schifted becaus thay wer proponed be your maiestie be such as had gloried to be opposite to your sacred desires c1630 Scot Narr. 106.
That their reasons might be known befor the nixt Assembly, and there shifted or suppressed 1692 Nimmo Narr. 100.
I desired the loan of ane hunder markes quhich he shifted

e. reflex. To schift (oneself) of (a proposal), to evade or avoid accepting (it). c1610 Melville Mem. 346.
His maieste tok occasion … to send in Denmark, offering that commission first vnto me; quhilk I schifted me of

4. To transfer (responsibility) to (upoun) another person. Also to schift ower. 1558-66 Knox I 196.
This answer gave he, as mycht appear, to schift ower the argument upon the freare, as that he did 1648 Peebles B. Rec. I 383.
Billeting sojeris. … that quhasumeuer sall … chift the billet vpone ane nichtbour, sall pay … fyve pundis vnforgevin

5. To change (one's intention); to alter (the accepted interpretation of a text). 1572 Buch. Detect. (1727) 60.
As ane licht man, inconstant, and schifting his purposis at everie moment of tyme a1658 Durham Scandal (1740) 205.
When men begin … to shift clear places of Scripture, by putting strange and absurd expositions upon them

6. reflex. To escape (furth, away, or of a person). 1582–3 Perth B. Ct. 9 Feb.
Petir … brunt the dur of the said inner waird … and chiftit him self furth therout 1610 Crim. Trials III 122.
Young Cloisburne schiftit him selff away 1686 Reg. Privy C. 3 Ser. XIII 27.
He wes thus necessitatt to shift himself of the said Farquhar for his oune preservation

b. To elude or escape (a person). c1650 Spalding I 287.
Whair Geicht schiftis the capiten and all his keipares, and … wynis cloiss away

7. To move (a thing) from one person or place to another; to convey (something) (surreptitiously). 1598 Edinb. D. Guild Acc. 675.
Payit for gaddering togidder the tymmer in Leyth quhilk wes be the Lambeth fluid chiftit athort the sandis — 1609 Crim. Trials II 575.
For the … passage of this letter by his maiesteis hand … Lord Balmirrenoch confesseth this course to haif bene by him contryveit; fyrst, that itt sould be cheftit in amangis diueris vtheris letteris to be signed 1612 Fife Synod 48.
He did nether eat the bread nor drink the wyne, but shifted thame from him self to thame quho satt next to him

b. To drive (flocks, etc.) to another place. c1650 Spalding I 191.
The antecovenanteris … fled, schiftit thair goodis, and sum lokkit wp thair yettis

c. To readjust (a sail); to alter its position. Only fig. 1661 Wodrow Hist. (1828) I 116.
They are looked upon as men ready to shift their sails, that they may be before the wind, whatsoever way they conceive it is likely to blow

8. To elude or evade (an evil or danger); to shun or shirk a duty, esp. an unpleasant one. a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 63.
Al evils are gude to frist [v.r. schift] 1657 Johnston Diary III 97.
I … sensibly found him shift speaking with me a1658 Durham Commandments (1675) 67.
That they … run not on the extream of shifting their duty 1667 J. Guthrie in Union Mag. (Oct. 1902) 463.
It [sc. a cross] is an affliction a man cannot shift except he shift duty ?1677–8 Welsh Forty-eight Serm. 565.
Ye … shifted and shunned hazards 1679 Naphtali (1693) 475.
Do not shift the cross of Christ if ye be called unto it 1685-8 Renwick Serm. 346.
Take heed to yourselves and shift not duty 1688 Tryal Philip Standsfield 18.
The pannal did ordinarly shift occasions of being in his fathers company 1724 Shields Life Renwick (1827) 60.
To shift and shun suffering

9. To find or obtain (something) by one's own efforts or initiative. 1615 Denmylne MSS in Highland P. III 290.
I can heir no certantie … if he be gone to schift a bark or a schip to carie him away

10. To schift off. a. To turn aside (a proposal). Cf. 3 above. b. To do away with (a punishment). c. To put off, get rid of (a person).a. ?c1675 J. Gordon Hist. III 98.
This project … was rejected mostly by all the anti-Covenanting partye … and not a few of the Covenanters themselves fownde wayes for to shifte it offb. 1572 Buch. Detect. (1727) 87.
Thay aucht not to auaile to schift of all punischment, bot to raise sum pietie of the cacec. 1666-74 Fraser Polichron. 505.
My lord was … oppressed with visits … but could not shift off friends

11. To shift by, ? to allow to pass without noticing, to disregard. a1658 Durham Comm. Rev. 265.
Hearers are often ready to shift by the most particular words, … when they are more shortly and generally touched

12. intr. To schift for (oneself), to fend for oneself; to depend on one's own efforts only. 1558-66 Knox I 406.
And be force … with thair wyffis, bairneis, and servandis, to schyft [for] thame selfis in begging 1616 Misc. Hist. Soc. II 221.
The erle … wes commandit … to schift for himself c1650 Spalding I 30.
Sho past and repast thairefter at hir plesour … and hir husband schiftit for him selff

13. To behave, or speak, evasively; to use evasion or subterfuge; to avoid giving a direct or explicit answer. 1568 Hosack Mary Q. of Scots I 547.
Bothuile schifting (aganis the tennour of his cartele … ) said he wald fecht with ony erle or lord 1558-66 Knox II 141.
Alexander … wold have schifted; but then the Lordis willed him to ansuer directlie 1573 Bk. Univ. Kirk I 289.
He shifted saying, he could not produce his ineptias 1586 Warrender Illustr. Sc. Hist. 22.
I ansuerit, we mynd not to chift 1622 Aberd. Eccl. Rec. 102.
Thay intendit no more to mock and schift, as in tymes past a1658 Durham Clavis Cantici 139.
It's alwayes time to believe, when ever Christ calls, and it's never time to shift, when he perswades 1700 Cramond Kirk S. IV 25 Aug.
John Harrower … did still shift & deny that they had been any space in the house together

14. To refuse (to do something). 1666 Naphtali (1693) 338.
They shall curse the day that ever they shifted to dye on a scaffold 1674 Highland P. I 268.
And … M‘Lean … did shift to deliver up to the said earle … the militia-armes