shifting

Noun

shifting (plural shiftings)

1. A shift or change; a shifting movement.
   • I remember the last time I saw Macbeth played, the discrepancy I felt at the changes of garment which he varied, the shiftings and reshiftings, like a Romish priest at mass.1811, Charles Lamb, On the Tragedies of Shakespeare Considered with Reference to their Fitness for Stage Representation
   • But shiftings and readjustments ensued, as they are sure to do with a walking-party. Cope presently found himself scuffling through the thin grass and the briery thickets alongside the young business-man.1919, Henry B[lake] Fuller, “Cope at His House Party”, in Bertram Cope’s Year: A Novel, Chicago, Ill.: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, →OCLC, page 94
2. The phenomenon by which two or more constituents appearing on the same side of their common head exchange positions to obtain non-canonical order.