hoist

/hɔɪst/

hoist verb: 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).

Image: John E. Thwaites, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

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

(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).
- For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his ovvne petar, an't ſhall goe hard / But I vvill delue one yard belovve their mines, / And blovve them at the Moone: […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...
- They land my goods, and hoist my flying sails.1725, Alexander Pope, The Odyssey, translation of original by Homer
(figuratively, often, transitive) To lift a trophy or similar prize into the air in celebration of a victory.
- 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.2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport
(historical, transitive) To lift someone up to be flogged.
- 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!1881, H.C. Leonard, A Translation of the Anglo-Saxon Version of St. Mark’s Gospel, page 83
(intransitive) To be lifted up.
(transitive) To extract (code) from a loop construct as part of optimization.
(slang, transitive) To steal.
- 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?2006, Margaret Atwood, The Tent
(slang, transitive) To rob.
- 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!1948, Leslie Charteris, Saint Errant, page 103

Noun

hoist (plural hoists)

Any member of certain classes of devices that hoist things.
The act of hoisting; a lift.
- Give me a hoist over that wall.
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.
The position of a flag (on a mast) or of a sail on a ship when lifted up to its highest level.
The position of a main fore-and-aft topsail on a ship and fore fore-and-aft topsail on a ship.

hoist meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

hoist in Hindi

transitive: to raise; to lift; to elevate: फहराना phahrānā

hoist in Tamil

உயர்த்தி, உயர்த்து, ஏற்று, சுமை தூக்கி, பாரமுயர்த்தி, ஏந்தி

hoist in Bengali

ওপরে তোলা, উত্তোলন করা, উত্তোলক যন্ত্র দিয়ে তোলা

More languagesFewer languages

hoist in Telugu: ఎగరవేయు egaravēyu
hoist in Malayalam: ഉയർത്തുക, കയർ മുതലായവ ഉപയോഗിച്ച് ഉയർത്തുക, ഉയരത്തിൽ കൊടിയേറ്റുക
hoist in Kannada: ಏರಿಸು, ಮೇಲೆತ್ತು, ಎತ್ತುವುದು, ಏರಿಸುವುದು
hoist in Punjabi: ਚੁੱਕਣਾ cukkaṇā
hoist in Arabic: رَفَعَ rafaʕa, رَافِعَة rāfiʕa
hoist in Persian: هچ کردن hač kardan

Examples of hoist in a sentence

[Abasalom's] ambition would needs be fingering the sceptre, and hoisting him into his father's throne1675 October 17, Robert South, “Sermon XI. Of the odious Sin of Ingratitude”, in Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, published 1866:
[…] but this last was so heavy, I could not hoist it up to get it over the ship's side.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam]...
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.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

All 40 example sentences with hoist

Forms of hoist

Verb
third-person singular present	hoists
present participle	hoisting
past participle	hoisted
past	hoisted
past participle	hoist
past	hoist
Noun
plural	hoists

Past tense of hoist: hoisted or hoist

Origin of hoist

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.

Words formed from hoist

Phrases with hoist

Words that rhyme with hoist

Questions about hoist

What does hoist mean?: Hoist means 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).
What is hoist in Hindi?: Hoist in Hindi is फहराना (phahrānā). See Hoist meaning in Hindi.
How do you use hoist in a sentence?: [Abasalom's] ambition would needs be fingering the sceptre, and hoisting him into his father's throne
What part of speech is hoist?: Hoist can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce hoist?: Hoist is pronounced /hɔɪst/.
What is the past tense of hoist?: The past tense of hoist is hoisted.

Words near hoist in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-hoist.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hoist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hoist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.