Library / English Dictionary

HOIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lifting device for raising heavy or cumbersome objects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("hoist" is a kind of...):

lifting device (a device for lifting heavy loads)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hoist"):

block and tackle (pulley blocks with associated rope or cable)

headgear (the hoist at the pithead of a mine)

wheel and axle (hoist so arranged that a rope unwinding from a wheel is wound onto a cylindrical drum or shaft coaxial with the wheel)

Derivation:

hoist (raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help

Example:

hoist the bicycle onto the roof of the car

Synonyms:

hoist; lift; wind

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "hoist" is one way to...):

bring up; elevate; get up; lift; raise (raise from a lower to a higher position)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hoist"):

trice; trice up (hoist up or in and lash or secure with a small rope)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

hoist (lifting device for raising heavy or cumbersome objects)

hoister (an operator of a hoist)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Raise

Example:

hoist a sail

Synonyms:

hoist; run up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "hoist" is one way to...):

bring up; elevate; get up; lift; raise (raise from a lower to a higher position)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move from one place to another by lifting

Example:

They hoisted the patient onto the operating table

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "hoist" is one way to...):

bring up; elevate; get up; lift; raise (raise from a lower to a higher position)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They hoist the bags on the table

Credits

 Context examples: 

So the diver hoisted it up, and was much disappointed on opening it to find no pearls.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Therefore the honeyguide waits while an expert human undertakes the dangerous tasks of subduing the bees (by smoking them out using a flaming bundle of twigs and leaves hoisted high into the tree) and extracting the honey from within, usually by felling the entire tree.

(How humans and wild Honeyguide birds call each other to help, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

On her larboard quarter lay the two dark galleys, which had already hoisted sail, and were shooting out from Freshwater Bay in swift pursuit, their double line of oars giving them a vantage which could not fail to bring them up with any vessel which trusted to sails alone.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Perrault scaled it by a miracle, while François prayed for just that miracle; and with every thong and sled lashing and the last bit of harness rove into a long rope, the dogs were hoisted, one by one, to the cliff crest.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Once aboard, the two prisoners hoisted in the boat and under Wolf Larsen’s direction carried the wounded boat-steerer down into the forecastle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But let them hoist sail, and how d’you tell them then?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Growling the foulest imprecations, he crawled along the sand till he got hold of the porch and could hoist himself again upon his crutch.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

And I was placed there, by whom I don't know: I was in no condition to note particulars; I was only aware that they had hoisted me up to the height of Mr. Brocklehurst's nose, that he was within a yard of me, and that a spread of shot orange and purple silk pelisses and a cloud of silvery plumage extended and waved below me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Also a basket hung over the back of a chair, in which he vainly tried to hoist his too confiding sister, who, with feminine devotion, allowed her little head to be bumped till rescued, when the young inventor indignantly remarked, Why, Marmar, dat's my lellywaiter, and me's trying to pull her up.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

By means of deck-tackles I had arranged to carry the halyards forward to the windlass; and now I hoisted the mainsail, peak and throat, at the same time.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)