WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Shift"er
Part of Speech : n.
Definition : 1. One who, or that which, shifts; one who plays tricks or practices artifice; a cozener. 'T was such a shifter that, if truth were known, Death was half glad when he had got him down. Milton.

2. (Naut.)

Defn: An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions.

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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913