hoist

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun lifting device for raising heavy or cumbersome objects
  2. verb raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help
  3. verb move from one place to another by lifting

Etymology

Alteration of earlier hoise (“to hoist”), apparently based on the past tense forms, from Middle Dutch hisen (“to hoist”). Compare modern Dutch hijsen (“to hoist”), German hissen (“to hoist”), Danish hejse (“to hoist”). Compare also French hisser (“to hoist”), Galician isar (“to hoist”), Spanish izar (“to hoist”), Catalan hissar (“to hoist”), Italian issare (“to hoist”), Portuguese içar (“to hoist”), Sicilian jisari (“to hoist”), all borrowed from a Germanic source.

In classic literature

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading