shift
/ʃɪft/ verbDefinition
› [T] to move something to a different place or position: shift sth to sth They shifted the money to another account.shift sth out of sth Rising costs forced them to shift manufacturing work out of Europe.
› [I or T] to change an opinion, idea, etc.: shift focus/emphasis/attentionshift (sth) away from sth They have shifted the emphasis of the business away from traditional manufacturing. shift (sth) towards sth The company has shifted towards a more flexible marketing mix. HR have shifted their position on overtime working and this will no longer be encouraged.
› [T] informal COMMERCE to manage to sell goods: At that time, Sony had shifted 30 million Playstation3 consoles since launch. The sales projections were over-optimistic and left them with $100 million of stock they couldn't shift.
(Definition of shift verb from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary
© Cambridge University Press)
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