\Shift"er\, n.
1. One who, or that which, shifts; one who plays tricks or
   practices artifice; a cozener.
         'T was such a shifter that, if truth were known,
         Death was half glad when he had got him down.
                                               --Milton.
2. (Naut.) An assistant to the ship's cook in washing,
   steeping, and shifting the salt provisions.
3. (Mach.)
   (a) An arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one
       pulley to another.
   (b) (Knitting Mach.) A wire for changing a loop from one
       needle to another, as in narrowing, etc.