hoist

views updated Jun 11 2018

hoist / hoist/ • v. [tr.] raise (something) by means of ropes and pulleys: high overhead great cranes hoisted girders. ∎  [tr.] raise or haul up: she hoisted her backpack onto her shoulder.• n. 1. an act of raising or lifting something. ∎ fig. an act of increasing something: the government's interest rate hoist. ∎  an apparatus for lifting or raising something.2. the part of a flag nearest the staff; the vertical dimension of a flag.3. a group of flags raised as a signal.PHRASES: hoist one's flag (of an admiral) take up command.hoist the flag stake one's claim to discovered territory by displaying a flag.hoist by one's own petard see petard.DERIVATIVES: hoist·er n.ORIGIN: late 15th cent.: alteration of dialect hoise, probably from Dutch hijsen or Low German hiesen, but recorded earlier.

hoist

views updated Jun 08 2018

hoist vb. XVI. alt. of hoise (XVI), earlier hys(s)e (XV), Sc. heis (XVI); prob. — Du. hijschen or LG. hissen, hiesen, but the Eng. forms are earlier than any cited from elsewhere. The word appears early as an int. used in hauling: Eng. hissa, heisau, etc.