shifter

Definitions

• One who, or that which, shifts or changes.
• (linguistics) A word whose meaning changes depending on the situation, as by deixis.
• (dated) One who plays tricks or practices artifice; a cozener.
• (nautical) An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions.
• (engineering) An arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to another.
• (engineering) A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing, etc.
• (cycling) A component used by the rider to control the gearing mechanisms and select the desired gear ratio, usually connected to the derailleur by a mechanical actuation cable.
• A spanner with an adjustable jaw size.
• (mining) A person employed to repair the horseways and other passages, and keep them unobstructed.
• (US) A switcher or shunter: a railroad locomotive used for shunting.
• (mythology) A shape-shifter, or a person or other being capable of changing their physical form.
• (erotica) A genre of erotica focusing on lycanthropes or other shapeshifters, such as werewolves.