Your ShelfYour Projects
Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Hoist

Hoist, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. HOISTED; p. pr. & vb. n. HOISTING.] [O. Eng. hoise, D. hijsen, huijschen, L. Ger. hissen, Dan. hisse, Sw. hissa, Icel. hisa, Fr. hisser, It. issare, Sp. & Pg. izar.] To raise; to lift; to exalt; to elevate; to heave; especially, to raise, to lift, or bear upward by means of tackle, as a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight.

He was the subversion and fall of that monarchy, which was the hoisting of him. Milton.

They land my goods, and hoist my flying sails. Pope.

Hoist, n.

noun

n. 1. That by which any thing is hoisted; a machine for elevating goods.

  1. The act of hoisting. [Colloq.]
  2. (Naut.) The perpendicular height of a flag or sail, as opposed to the fly, or breadth from the staff to the outer edge. Totten.