hoistverb/hɔɪst/

• 1

  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).

  • For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his ovvne petar, an't ſhall goe hard / But I vvill delue one yard belovve their mines, / And blovve them at the Moone: […]
  • They land my goods, and hoist my flying sails.
• 2

  hobbieslifestylesportsTo lift a trophy or similar prize into the air in celebration of a victory.

  • And when skipper Richie McCaw hoisted the Webb Ellis Trophy high into the night, a quarter of a century of hurt was blown away in an explosion of fireworks and cheering.
• 3

  historicalTo lift someone up to be flogged.

  • Again Pilatus answered them, What shall I do to the Jew’s king? They again cried out and said, Hoist him! Then said Pilatus, What evil did he? They so much the more cried, Hoist him!
• 4

  To be lifted up.

• 5

  computingcomputing-theoryengineeringTo extract (code) from a loop construct as part of optimization.

• 6

  slangTo steal.

  • When you’ve reached neutral territory, when you’ve stashed the loot hoisted from the warlord’s mansion – well, he didn't have much use for it any more, did he?
• 7

  slangTo rob.

  • Why, it was nothing to travel about the country with fifty grand worth of ice on me. Suppose I hadn’t packed a roscoe—hell, I’d of been hoisted once a week!

hoistnoun/hɔɪst/

• 1

  Any member of certain classes of devices that hoist things.

• 2

  The act of hoisting; a lift.

  • Give me a hoist over that wall.
• 3

  The triangular vertical position of a flag, as opposed to the flying state, or triangular vertical position of a sail, when flying from a mast.

• 4

  The position of a flag (on a mast) or of a sail on a ship when lifted up to its highest level.

• 5

  The position of a main fore-and-aft topsail on a ship and fore fore-and-aft topsail on a ship.