hoist

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See also: host

English

hoisting

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”), Catalan hissar (“to hoist”), Italian issare (“to hoist”), Sicilian jisari (“to hoist”), all borrowed from a Germanic source.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hɔɪst/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Hyphenation: hoist
  • Rhymes: -ɔɪst

Verb

hoist (third-person singular simple present hoists, present participle hoisting, simple past and past participle hoisted or hoist)

  1. (transitive) To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight).
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke:  (Second Quarto), London: I R for N L , published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
      For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his ovvne petar, an't ſhall goe hard / But I vvill delue one yeard belovve their mines, / And blovve them at the Moone: […]
      For it's amusing to have the engineer / Lifted into the sky with his own explosive, and if I'm lucky / I will dig one yard below their mines, / And blow them towards the Moon:
    • 1725, Alexander Pope, The Odyssey, translation of original by Homer:
      They land my goods, and hoist my flying sails.
    • 1675 October 17, Robert South, “Sermon XI. Of the odious Sin of Ingratitude”, in Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, published 1866:
      [Abasalom's] ambition would needs be fingering the sceptre, and hoisting him into his father's throne
    • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, , London: W Taylor , →OCLC:
      […] but this last was so heavy, I could not hoist it up to get it over the ship's side.
    • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
      Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him upstairs, and laid him on his bed, where his head fell back on the pillow, as if he were almost fainting.
  2. (transitive, sports, often figurative) To lift a trophy or similar prize into the air in celebration of a victory.
    • 2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport‎:
      And when skipper Richie McCaw hoisted the Webb Ellis Trophy high into the night, a quarter of a century of hurt was blown away in an explosion of fireworks and cheering.
  3. (transitive, historical) To lift someone up to be flogged.
    • 1881, H.C. Leonard, A Translation of the Anglo-Saxon Version of St. Mark’s Gospel‎, page 83:
      Again Pilatus answered them, What shall I do to the Jew’s king? They again cried out and said, Hoist him! Then said Pilatus, What evil did he? They so much the more cried, Hoist him!
  4. (intransitive) To be lifted up.
  5. (transitive, computing theory) To extract (code) from a loop construct as part of optimization.
  6. (transitive, slang) To steal.
    • 2006, Margaret Atwood, The Tent:
      When you’ve reached neutral territory, when you’ve stashed the loot hoisted from the warlord’s mansion – well, he didn't have much use for it any more, did he?
  7. (transitive, slang) To rob.
    • 1948, Leslie Charteris, Saint Errant, page 103:
      Why, it was nothing to travel about the country with fifty grand worth of ice on me. Suppose I hadn’t packed a roscoe—hell, I’d of been hoisted once a week!

Usage notes

  • "Hoisted" is about fifteen times more common than "hoist" in US usage as past and past participle. The "hoist" form is also uncommon in the UK except in the expression "hoist by one's own petard".

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

hoist (plural hoists)

  1. A hoisting device, such as pulley or crane.
  2. The act of hoisting; a lift.
    Give me a hoist over that wall.
  3. The triangular vertical position of a flag, as opposed to the flying state, or triangular vertical position of a sail, when flying from a mast.
  4. The position of a flag (on a mast) or of a sail on a ship when lifted up to its highest level.
  5. The position of a main fore-and-aft topsail on a ship and fore fore-and-aft topsail on a ship.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

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