v. 1
To move from one place to another; to redistribute.
We'll have to shift these boxes to the downtown office.
v. 2
To change in form or character; switch.
n. 1
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.
n. 2
A movement to do something, a beginning.

Related words

Word family: shiftless shifty shiftable shifter
Phrases: paradigm shift gear shift language shift semantic shift stick shift third shift graveyard shift make-shift

Forms

Plural: shifts → slips, chemises, shirts, shimmies…
Past participle: shifted
e.g. shifted → switched, turned, transposed, converted…

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

4 letters: turn¹, move¹, race¹, draw¹, rush¹, slip¹, vary², stir¹, swap¹, haul¹, tilt¹, veer¹
5 letters: means¹, break¹, carry², shirt¹, fault¹, trick¹, pitch¹, alter², teddy², dodge¹, budge¹, lurch¹, smock¹
6 letters: change¹, travel², double², remove², device², switch¹, scheme¹, manage², wobble², shimmy²
7 letters: develop³, replace², convert², commute², shuffle², evasion³, agitate³, chemise²
8 letters: exchange², transfer², resource², fracture², relocate³, dislodge², faulting²
9 letters: transport², switching², transform², transpose², reconvert, workshift
10 letters: substitute³, reposition⁴
11 letters: interchange³
12 letters: displacement³
13 letters: transmutation
14 letters: transformation⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (vary² = 2 syllables).