Shift"er (?), n. 1.
One who, or that which, shifts; one who plays tricks or practices
artifice; a cozener.
'T was such a shifter that, if truth were
known,
Death was half glad when he had got him down.
Milton.
2. (Naut.) An assistant to the ship's
cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions.
3. (Mach.) (a) An
arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to
another. (b) (Knitting Mach.) A wire
for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing,
etc.