rollsoffthetongue:GIVE SOMEONE A LIFTIdiomatic Meaning: Drive someone to a particular location;provi
rollsoffthetongue:GIVE SOMEONE A LIFTIdiomatic Meaning: Drive someone to a particular location;provide transportation for someone, usually at no charge.Literal Meaning: The literalmeaning will depend on where in the world the speaker is using the words. InBritish English, it could mean to offer someone a platform or compartment housed in a shaft for raising andlowering people or things to different floors or levels.Usage: Formal and informal, spoken andwritten American and British English. Usually indicating friendship and/orgenerosity. Origin: Early18th Century, British and American English – “Lift” as a verb dates back to the12th Century, meaning “to raise from the ground.” 200 years later itbecame used as a noun, meaning “a load, what a person can carry”. By the 17thCentury figurative meanings started to appear, such as to elevate someone’smood. By the 18th century the current meaning “to take someone for aride in a vehicle” began to be used. Finally, by the 19th Centurywith the invention of a hoisting machine to take people up and down the interiorsof buildings, the word “lift” was applied in England. However, in the U.S.,these machines were called “elevators”Why is this funny: In the photo, we see a very tall building being constructed.It is about half finished. Note that there are two freight elevators on theoutside used to take equipment and supplies to the construction workers. Twopeople appear to be looking up at these elevators or lifts. One asks the otherhow much money he would accept to sell the two elevators. The other personreplies that they are not for sale. However, in an apparent spirit of generosity,the person offers to give away one of them for free. They are willing to “givethe other person a lift”. I wonder if they would give them a lift to go up andinspect the elevator!Sample sentence: If you’redriving uptown, can you give me a lift? -- source link
#idiom