shifters

Noun

shifter (plural shifters)

1. One who, or that which, shifts or changes.
2. A word whose meaning changes depending on the situation, as by deixis.
   • The cigarette is analogous to what linguists call a shifter, like the word I ; this device for expressing the irreducible particularity of my innermost self is universally available to every speaker and is thus the least particular thing in the world. The smoker manipulates the cigarette, like the...1995, Richard Klein, “Introduction”, in Cigarettes are sublime, Paperback edition, Durham: Duke University Press, published 1993, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 9
3. (dated) Someone who plays tricks; a trickster.
   • 'Twas ſuch a ſhifter, that if truth were known, / Death was half glad when he had got him down;1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “On the Univerſity Carrier […] ”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC, page 28
4. An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, soaking, and shifting the salt provisions.
5. A control device (usually a lever or button) for shifting gears in a gearbox, or an arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to another.
6. A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing, etc.

See all 12 meanings of shifter