different between shift vs roll

English

Etymology

From Middle English schiften, from Old English s?iftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijan?, *skiptijan?, from earlier *skipatjan? (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) enPR: sh?ft, IPA^(key): /??ft/
• (Canada)
• Rhymes: -?ft

Noun

shift (countable and uncountable, plural shifts)

1. (historical) A type of women's undergarment, a slip.

   Just last week she bought a new shift at the market.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 47

     Some wear black shifts and flesh-coloured stockings; some with curly hair, dyed yellow, are dressed like little girls in short muslin frocks.

2. A change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time.

   We'll work three shifts a day till the job's done.

3. An act of shifting; a slight movement or change.

   There was a shift in the political atmosphere.

   • c. 1620-1626, Henry Wotton, letter to Nicholas Pey

     My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air.
4. (US) The gear mechanism in a motor vehicle.

   Does it come with a stick-shift?

5. Alternative spelling of Shift (“a modifier button of computer keyboards”).

   If you press shift-P, the preview display will change.

6. (computing) A bit shift.
7. (baseball) The infield shift.

   Teams often use the shift against this lefty.

8. (Ireland, crude slang, often with the definite article, usually uncountable) The act of kissing passionately.
9. (archaic) A contrivance, a device to try when other methods fail.
   • 1596, Shakespeare, History of King John

     If I get down, and do not break my limbs,

     I'll find a thousand shifts to get away:

     As good to die and go, as die and stay.

10. (archaic) A trick, an artifice.
    • 1593, Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

      And if the boy have not a woman's gift

      To rain a shower of commanded tears,

      An onion will do well for such a shift

    • Little souls on little shifts rely.

11. (construction) The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
12. (mining) A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
13. (genetics) A mutation in which the DNA or RNA from two different sources (such as viruses or bacteria) combine.
14. (music) In violin-playing, any position of the left hand except that nearest the nut.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

shift (third-person singular simple present shifts, present participle shifting, simple past and past participle shifted)

1. (transitive, sometimes figuratively) To move from one place to another; to redistribute.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To change in form or character; swap.
   • 2008, June Granatir Alexander, Ethnic Pride, American Patriotism (page ix)

     As a result, I shifted my approach to focus on group-generated activities and broadened the chronological time frame.

3. (intransitive) To change position.

4. (intransitive, India) To change residence; to leave and live elsewhere.

   Synonym: move

5. (obsolete, transitive) To change (clothes, especially underwear).
   • , II.ii.2:

     'Tis very good to wash his hands and face often, to shift his clothes, to have fair linen about him, to be decently and comely attired […].

6. (obsolete, transitive, reflexive) To change (someone's) clothes; sometimes specifically, to change underwear.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, Act V, Scene 5,^[3]

     As it were, to ride day and night; and […] not to have patience to shift me.

   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, I.21:

     The first thing he did was to secure a convenient lodging at the inn where he dined; then he shifted himself, and according to the direction he had received, went to the house of Mrs. Gauntlet […] .

7. (intransitive) To change gears (in a car).

8. (typewriters) To move the keys of a typewriter over in order to type capital letters and special characters.
9. (computer keyboards) To switch to a character entry mode for capital letters and special characters.
10. (transitive, computing) To manipulate a binary number by moving all of its digits left or right; compare rotate.

11. (transitive, computing) To remove the first value from an array.
12. (transitive) To dispose of.

13. (intransitive) To hurry; to move quickly.
14. (Ireland, vulgar, slang) To engage in sexual petting.
15. (archaic) To resort to expedients for accomplishing a purpose; to contrive; to manage.
    • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflexions, London: R. Sare et al., Fable 83, Reflexion, p. 81,^[4]

      […] men in distress will look to themselves in the First Place, and leave their Companions to Shift as well as they can.

    • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 112,^[5]

      My Fellow-Slaves were […] as courteous to me as I could well-expect; and as they had Plantations of their own, they gave me […] such Victuals as they had; especially on dark Nights, and at such Times as I could not shift for myself.

16. To practice indirect or evasive methods.
    • 1614, Walter Raleigh, History of the World, London: Walter Burre, Part 1, Chapter 3, Section 7, p. 45,^[6]

      But this I dare auow of all those Schoole-men, that though they were exceeding wittie, yet they better teach all their Followers to shift, then to resolue, by their distinctions.

17. (music) In violin-playing, to move the left hand from its original position next to the nut.

Synonyms

• (to change, swap): interchange, swap; See also Thesaurus:switch
• (to move from one place to another): relocate, transfer; See also Thesaurus:move
• (to change position): reposition
• (to dispose of): get rid of, remove; See also Thesaurus:junk
• (to hurry): hasten, rush; See also Thesaurus:rush
• (to engage in sexual petting): fondle, grope; see also Thesaurus:fondle

Antonyms

• (computing): unshift

Derived terms

• ever-shifting, evershifting
• preshift
• unshift

Translations

Portuguese

Noun

shift m (plural shifts)

1. shift (button on a keyboard)

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???l/
• (General American) enPR: r?l, IPA^(key): /?o?l/
• Homophone: role

Etymology 1

From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotul?re (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin roll?re, from the same ultimate source.

Verb

roll (third-person singular simple present rolls, present participle rolling, simple past and past participle rolled)

1. (transitive) To cause to revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on an axis; to impel forward by causing to turn over and over on a supporting surface.
2. (intransitive) To turn over and over.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fifth

     And her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which rolls, and rolls, and rolls.

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Chapter 13

     The gentleman aimed the ball once or twice and then threw it up the strand towards Cissy Caffrey but it rolled down the slope and stopped right under Gerty's skirt near the little pool by the rock.

3. (intransitive) To tumble in gymnastics; to do a somersault.
4. (transitive) To wrap (something) round on itself; to form into a spherical or cylindrical body by causing to turn over and over.

5. (transitive) To bind or involve by winding, as in a bandage; to enwrap; often with up.

6. (intransitive) To be wound or formed into a cylinder or ball.

   The cloth rolls unevenly; the snow rolls well.

7. (ergative) To drive or impel forward with an easy motion, as of rolling.

8. (ergative) To utter copiously, especially with sounding words; to utter with a deep sound; — often with forth, or out.

9. (transitive) To press or level with a roller; to spread or form with a roll, roller, or rollers.

10. (intransitive) To spread itself under a roller or rolling-pin.

    The pastry rolls well.

11. (ergative) To move, or cause to be moved, upon, or by means of, rollers or small wheels.
12. (chiefly US, Canada, colloquial, intransitive) To leave or begin a journey.

13. (chiefly US, Canada, colloquial, intransitive) To compete, especially with vigor.

14. (transitive) To beat with rapid, continuous strokes, as a drum; to sound a roll upon.
15. (geometry) To apply (one line or surface) to another without slipping; to bring all the parts of (one line or surface) into successive contact with another, in such a manner that at every instant the parts that have been in contact are equal.
16. (transitive) To turn over in one's mind; to revolve.
17. (US, slang, intransitive) To behave in a certain way; to adopt a general disposition toward a situation.
    • 2006, Chris McKenna, "Kids at party chant as police sergeant is beaten by angry teens", Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY), Tuesday, November 21, [1].

      "This is how we roll in Spring Valley," one teen reportedly boasted.

18. (dice games, intransitive) To throw dice.
19. (dice games, transitive) To roll dice such that they form a given pattern or total.

20. (role-playing games) To create a new character in a role-playing game, especially by using dice to determine properties.

21. (intransitive, computing) To generate a random number.
22. (intransitive, aviation, nautical, of an aircraft or vessel) To rotate on its fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down. Compare pitch.
23. (intransitive, in folk songs) To travel by sailing.
    • 19th c., Rolling Down to Old Maui (anon.)

      We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground / Rolling down to Old Maui

    • early 20th c., Randy Dandy-O (anon.)

      Now we are ready to head for the Horn / Way-hey, roll and go!

24. (transitive) To beat up; to attack and cause physical damage to.
25. (transitive, slang) To cause to betray secrets or to testify for the prosecution.

26. (intransitive, slang) To betray secrets.

27. (slang, intransitive) To be under the influence of MDMA (a psychedelic stimulant, also known as ecstasy).
    • 2000, Michael Sunstar, Underground Rave Dance,^[2] Writers Club Press, ?ISBN, page 15:

      Cindy replied, “Wow, that’s great. Did you try E at those parties?” Steel said, “Oh yeah. I was rolling hard at the Willy Wonka party.”

    • 2003, Karin Slaughter, A Faint Cold Fear (novel), HarperCollins, ?ISBN, page 169:

      The crowd was rolling on Ecstasy, and the lights enhanced the experience. […] He would use it to keep his teeth from chattering while he was rolling.

    • a. 2007, unidentified Internet user quoted in Joseph A. Kotarba, “Music as a Feature of the Online Discussion of Illegal Drugs”, in Edward Murguía et al. (editors), Real Drugs in a Virtual World: Drug Discourse and Community Online, Lexington Books (2007), ?ISBN

      So the quesion is When you are rolling what gets you in that “ecstasy” state more: hard pounding energetic music or smoother and gentler music? Personally for me its gentler music because when I’m rolling my mind can’t really keep up with all the hard pounding intriquet sounds […]

28. (transitive, intransitive, of a camera) To (cause to) film.

29. (transitive, soccer) To slip past (a defender) with the ball.
    • 2014, Jacob Steinberg, "Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals", The Guardian, 9 March 2014:

      Rolled far too easily by Marc-Antoine Fortuné, Demichelis compounded his error by standing on the striker's foot. In the absence of the injured Watson, Gómez converted the penalty.

30. (intransitive) To have a rolling aspect.
31. (figuratively, intransitive) To perform a periodical revolution; to move onward as with a revolution.

    The years roll on.

32. (intransitive) To move, like waves or billows, with alternate swell and depression.
33. (figuratively, intransitive) to move and cause an effect on someone
    • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon On The Vanity Of The World

      Here tell me, if thou darest, my conscious soul,

      what different sorrows did within thee roll?

34. (intransitive) To make a loud or heavy rumbling noise.

    The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed.

35. (transitive) To utter with an alveolar trill.

36. (transitive, US) To enrobe in toilet-paper (as a prank or spectacle).

37. (transitive) To create a customized version of.
    • 2000, Mark F. Komarinski and Cary Collett, Red Hat Linux System Administration Handbook, page 311, [4]

    • 2006, Keyboard, volume 32, page 188, [5]

    • 2010, Joseph Rattz and Adam Freeman, Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in C# 2010, page 208, [6]

    • 2015, Hyer Thomas, Derivatives Algorithms - Volume 1: Bones (Second Edition), page 135, [7]

38. (transitive, martial arts) To engage in sparring in the context of jujitsu or other grappling disciplines.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

roll (plural rolls)

1. The act or result of rolling, or state of being rolled.

2. A forward or backward roll in gymnastics; going head over heels. A tumble.
3. Something which rolls.
   1. A heavy cylinder used to break clods.
   2. One of a set of revolving cylinders, or rollers, between which metal is pressed, formed, or smoothed, as in a rolling mill.

4. A swagger or rolling gait.
5. A heavy, reverberatory sound.

6. The uniform beating of a drum with strokes so rapid as scarcely to be distinguished by the ear.
7. (nautical, aviation) The oscillating movement of a nautical vessel as it rotates from side to side, on its fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down, as distinguished from the alternate rise and fall of bow and stern called pitching; or the equivalent in an aircraft.
8. (nautical) The measure or extent to which a vessel rotates from side to side, on its fore-and-aft axis.
9. The rotation angle about the longitudinal axis.

10. An instance of the act of rolling an aircraft through one or more complete rotations about its longitudinal axis.

11. The act of, or total resulting from, rolling one or more dice.

12. A winning streak of continuing luck, especially at gambling (and especially in the phrase on a roll).

13. A training match for a fighting dog.
14. (US, paddlesport) An instance of the act of righting a canoe or kayak which has capsized, without exiting the watercraft, or being assisted.

15. (paddlesport) The skill of righting a canoe or kayak which has capsized.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English rolle, from Old French rolle, role, roule, from Medieval Latin rotulus (“a roll, list, catalogue, schedule, record, a paper or parchment rolled up”); as such, it is a doublet of role.

Noun

roll (plural rolls)

1. That which is rolled up.

2. A document written on a piece of parchment, paper, or other materials which may be rolled up; a scroll.
   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon On The Vanity Of The World

     Busy angels spread / The lasting roll, recording what we say.

3. An official or public document; a register; a record
   • 1713 Sir M. Hale, The History of the Common Law of England (posthumously published)

     As to the rolls of parliament, viz. the entry of the several petitions, answers and transactions in parliament. Those are generally and successively extant of record in the Tower

4. A catalogue or list
   • c. 1666, John Davies, Historical Relations: Or, a Discovery of the True Causes Why Ireland Was Never Entirely Subdued, Nor Brought Under Obedience of the Crown of England Until the Beginning of the Reign of King James I

     The roll and list of that army doth remain.

5. A quantity of cloth wound into a cylindrical form.

6. A cylindrical twist of tobacco.
7. A kind of shortened raised biscuit or bread, often rolled or doubled upon itself; see also bread roll.
8. (obsolete) Part; office; duty; rôle.
9. A measure of parchments, containing five dozen.
   • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 594:

     Parchement is sold by the dozen, and by the roll of five dozens.

10. (US, paddlesport) An instance of the act of righting a canoe or kayak which has capsized, without exiting the watercraft, or being assisted.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Rolls

Further reading

• roll in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• roll in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Irish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

roll m (genitive singular roll, nominative plural rollanna)

1. roll

Declension

Verb

roll (present analytic rollann, future analytic rollfaidh, verbal noun rolladh, past participle rollta)

1. (transitive, intransitive) roll
   1. (transitive) form into a roll

Conjugation

Alternative forms

• rollaigh, rolláil

Derived terms

Further reading

• "roll" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Entries containing “roll” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
• Entries containing “roll” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

roll c

1. role
2. roll (the rotation angle about the longitudinal axis)

Declension

Derived terms

• (part): huvudroll, huvudrollsinnehavare, karaktärsroll, könsroll, rollfördelning, rollista, rollspel, spela någon roll , det spelar ingen roll, titelroll, yrkesroll
• (rotation): tunnelroll