1592. Greene, A Disputation [Grosart (1881–6), x. 227]. We practise
... among merchaunt taylors ... getting much gains by lifting.
1852. Judson, Mysteries etc. of New York, ch. iv. When I hear of
the boys making a large lift, I always envy them.
3. (colloquial).—Assistance in general: as, a lift in a vehicle; a lift
in life. Also lifting.
1711. Swift, Journal to Hella, 5 April, Letter 20. I ... then took
a coach and got a lift back for nothing.
1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, I. vii. Whose distress, and silence
under it, call out the louder for a friendly lift.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lift. To give one a lift, to
assist; a good hand at a dead lift, a good hand on an emergency.
1796. J. G. Holman, Abroad and at Home, i. 1. Young T. Yes, Sir
Simon, so they tell me; but for all that, don’t d— trade; for I
don’t think as how you’d ha’ been a gentleman and a knight if the
money you got by the warehouse had not given you a bit of a lift.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xxxv. p. 307. There was a constant
succession of Christian names in smock frocks and white coats, who
were invited to have a lift by the guard, and who knew every horse
and hostler on the road and off it.
1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-Days, Pt. I. v. You know my old
aunt, Miss East, she lives somewhere down your way in Berkshire.
She wrote to me that you were coming to-day, and asked me to give
you a lift.
1873. Notes and Queries, 4 S. xii. 16 Aug. p. 128. As she was
toiling along the high-road to Oxford, she was overtaken by a
student of the University on horseback. He offered her a lift,
which she accepted.
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xl. Grateful to Maddie
for giving him this lift.
1892. S. Watson, Wops the Waif, p. 9. Glad of the lift Tickle stood
on the edge of a broad ledge at the side of the pavement.