Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to have sexual intercourse.

1675		Woman Turn’d Bully III i: To shift a Maid, is to make her a woman.
1996		Irish Times 8 May n.p.: The accused boy told his mother he had kissed her. His mother asked if that was all and he replied ‘I shifted her.’ Asked to explain, he continued, ‘I went all the way but I didn’t force her’ .
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 122: Despite himself, Myles was stung by Mia’s confession that she had shifted another man.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 263: [S]he’s got long wavy hair just made for bunching in your hand while you shift her‘.

2. to move fast, to run.

1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 19 Sept. 268/3: Mr Shelton labours hard to accuse me of shifting, by stating that I [...] went to Ireland.
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 101: I thought if we could get that five thousand we could shift to Australia.
1902		‘McG’ ‘Man with Rubber Pedals‘ in Bulletin Reciter n.p.: As your calves and biceps swell, by Jingo, don’t you shift .
1910		H.G. Wells Hist. of Mr Polly (1946) 198: ‘Not your blooming business,’ he said. ‘You got to shift.’.
1916		Rising Sun 25 Dec. 8/1: The jawin’ of the sergeant nearly drives a bloke insane / It’s pick this up, and bury that, and shift yer bloomin’ pins.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 223: I thought I might as well be shifting.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 80: Following his coat tails was no lark, neither, because he proper shifted himself.
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 192: Golly, it can’t half shift!
1953		B. Behan Scarperer (1966) 81: Yes, I suppose I’d better shift.
1986		Beano Comic Library No. 96 39: Swipe me! He can shift!
1990		Beano Comic Library No. 190 34: This old tub can fairly shift when she’s got a nice head of steam!
1996		(con. 1970) G. Moxley Danti-Dan in McGuinness Dazzling Dark (1996) I iii: Shift. Look at the time it is.
1997		(con. 1950s) J. Byrne Slab Boys [film script] 31: Shift, I said ... move the torso!
2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Shift - move rapidly.

3. to kill, to murder [on model of put away v. (1a)].

1937–84

Partridge DSUE (1984) 1049/2: 1898.

4. to consume, esp. to eat or drink a large amount [on model of put away v. (3)].

1890		Sporting Times 5 Apr. 1/4: With a prefatory, ‘Well—heah she goes,’ they shifted the beer.
c.1895		A. Chevalier Before I Forget (1901) 232: King Charles was off ’is peck but ’adn’t ’e got a thirst on ’im! Lor! couldn’t he shift the corfee!
1901		B. Pain De Omnibus 72: Me and Ike went orf, and ’ad ter shift a pot each afore we cud regine our composure.
1904		Marvel 22 Oct. 2: Rory is pretty good at shifting meat.
1908		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Oct. 14/3: After that ’e wired a few blokes t’ join ’im in shiftin’ some cellar cordial, ’n’ they wandered off with ’im t’ th’ Fathom uv Froth shicker saloon.
1911		H. Champion ‘The Girl with Golden Hair’ [monologue] She knew how to drink I declare, / She shifted the scotch and then shifted me watch.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 197: ‘Shifting a bit.’ ‘I beg your pardon?’ ‘Mopping up the stuff to some extent.’.
1929		J.B. Priestley Good Companions 134: Booze isn’t Tommy’s trouble, though he can shift it as well as the next.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight.
1947		J. Maclaren-Ross Of Love And Hunger 62: I gulped down my scotch at one go, and Sukie said: ‘You can certainly shift it’.
1980		Bob Marley ‘Pimper’s Paradise’ 🎵 She loves to party [...] She loves to screw. / Sometimes shifting coke / She’ll be laughing / When there ain’t no joke.
1981		W. Russell Educating Rita I i: He manages a gulp at the whisky before he picks up the receiver and although his speech is not slurred, we should recognize the voice of a man who shifts a lot of booze.

5. to deep kiss.

1996		(con. 1970) G. Moxley Danti-Dan in McGuinness Dazzling Dark (1996) I v: The page where they’re shifting, kissing like, is bent down.
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 5: Shifting some wagon who had a face like a roadmap.

6. (Irish) to pursue women.

1985		T. Murphy Conversations on a Homecoming (1986) 25: I shifted this Judy at a dance in Seapoint and wheeled her back to the Strand.
1993		M. Verdon Shawlies, Echo Boys, the Marsh and the Lanes 35: Whacker Murphy went shifting in the Arc and clicked a dolly from Gurrane. She was a lasher with a pair of josies that would act as buffers for the Innisfallen.
2001		C. McPherson Port Authority 7: Danny the drummer had shifted this small goth chick.

7. (N.Z. prison) to stab.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 164/2: shift v. to stab.