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Your word for today is: lift-off, adj. and n.
lift-off, adj. and n.
Forms:Also liftoff, lift off.
Etymology: < vbl. phr. to lift off (lift v.1b, 3).
A. adj. Removable by lifting.1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 385/3Art cloth box, with lift off lid.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 140/1 (advt.)Lift-off wide doors‥give remarkably easy access.
1970 Gloss. Industrial Furnace Terms (B.S.I.) 9Lift-off cover furnace, a base over which a cover is placed for heating the charge; separate bases are normally available so that the same cover can be used for several charges.
1974 Country Life 6 June 1500George III Decanter Stand.‥ The lift off tray is divided into nine crenellated compartments.
B. n. 1. Parachuting. A method of leaving an aircraft by opening the parachute while standing on a wing, so as to be carried away by the air current.1930 P. White How to fly Airplane xxii. 303Two men are about to execute what is known as a 'lift-off' from the wings of a bombing plane.
1946 W. F. Burbidge From Balloon to Bomber iii. 46There are two main methods of leaving aircraft. One is known as the 'lift-off' and in using this method the airman climbs on to the wing‥and, by releasing his parachute, is lifted off. But this method has been superseded by the 'fall free'.
1957 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 252/2In general use, there are two ways of leaving an aeroplane by parachute: (1) the drag-off or lift-off method, and (2) the jump or free-fall method.
2. a. [after blast-off n., take-off n. and adj.] The vertical take-off of a rocket, helicopter, or the like; the moment at which an aircraft begins to leave the ground.1956 in W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 299.
1958 Time 8 Dec. 15/2With great restraint, Shotwell and his 40-man launch team quietly waited in their bunker a full seven minutes after the lift-off before they dared shout.
1961 Aeroplane 101 92/1Lift-off took place at Cape Canaveral at 07.20 hrs. local time.
1962 New Scientist 22 Feb. 426/3A plate in 10-gauge aluminium weighed 6·1 lb complete with nine-inch peg and gave adequate protection for fully 50 lift-offs [of VTOL aircraft] on grass.
1962 Engineering 27 July 99/1The flow characteristic‥is designed to facilitate part power operation and easy 'lift off' [of hovercraft] from the surface.
1966 J. A. Morris Bird Watcher (1968) ii. 27The launch vehicle exploded soon after lift-off.
1967 D. P. Davies Handling Big Jets vii. 177Take care when operating in cross winds. On take-off set in a little into-wind aileron control‥; this will stop the down wind roll which will otherwise occur just before lift off.
1967 New Scientist 16 Nov. 406/1From lift-off at Cape Kennedy‥to splash-down in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Hawaii‥the entire operation appears to have been an almost flawless performance.
1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon xi. 245If a serious malfunction should be detected, either by the men in Eagle or by the men on the ground, an immediate liftoff could be ordered.
b. fig. Initiation or commencement of activity; 'getting off the ground' (of a project or scheme).1967 Oxford Computer Explained 7Prior to lift-off on 1 August it was necessary that the actual stock in the warehouse be counted and the stock figures loaded to the computer.
1970 Daily Tel. 25 Apr. 17 (heading)Shell has lift-off with its space promotion.
1970 Daily Tel. 25 Apr. 17After weeks of harrowing doubt, the‥'biggest, most widespread promotion the world has yet seen' achieves lift-off next week.
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