hoist

verb

1. (transitive)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.”

   “[Abasalom's] ambition would needs be fingering the sceptre, and hoisting him into his father's throne”

   “[…] but this last was so heavy, I could not hoist it up to get it over the ship's side.”

   “Between us, with much trouble, we managed to hoist him upstairs, and laid him on his bed, where his head fell back on the pillow, as if he were almost fainting.”

2. (figuratively, often, transitive)To 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. (historical, transitive)To 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. (intransitive)To be lifted up.
5. (transitive)To extract (code) from a loop construct as part of optimization.
6. (slang, transitive)To 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. (slang, transitive)To 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!”

noun

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.