hoist

Meanings

Verb

• To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight).
• To lift a trophy or similar prize into the air in celebration of a victory.
• To lift someone up to be flogged.
• To be lifted up.
• To extract (code) from a loop construct as part of optimization.
• To steal.
• To rob.

Noun

• A hoisting device, such as pulley or crane.
• The act of hoisting; a lift.
• The perpendicular height of a flag, as opposed to the fly, or horizontal length, when flying from a staff.
• The vertical edge of a flag which is next to the staff.
• The height of a fore-and-aft sail, next the mast or stay.

Origin

• Alteration of earlier hoise, apparently based on the past tense forms, from Middle Dutch hisen. Compare modern Dutch hijsen, German hissen, Danish hejse. Compare also French hisser, Italian issare, Sicilian jisari, all borrowed from a Germanic source.