lever

plural levers

1. engineeringA rigid piece which is capable of turning about one point, or axis (fulcrum), and in which are two or more other points where forces are applied; — used for transmitting and modifying force and motion.
   1. engineeringSpecifically, a bar of metal, wood or other rigid substance, used to exert a pressure, or sustain a weight, at one point of its length, by receiving a force or power at a second, and turning at a third on a fixed point called a fulcrum. It is usually named as the first of the six mechanical powers, and is of three kinds, according as either the fulcrum F, the weight W, or the power P, respectively, is situated between the other two, as in the figures.

      Retractable steps and handrails are provided on each side of the cars. The steps, which are under the control of the guard, are operated by hand levers in the entrance vestibule.

      1952 September, “Modernised Pull-and-Push Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 617

2. A small such piece to trigger or control a mechanical device (like a switch or a button).
3. engineeringA bar, as a capstan bar, applied to a rotatory piece to turn it.

   A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.

   2012 March 28, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3

4. engineeringAn arm on a rock shaft, to give motion to the shaft or to obtain motion from it.
5. obsoleteexcept in generalized senses belowA crowbar.

   My lord, I brained him with a lever my neighbour lent me, and he stood by and cried, ‘Strike home, old boy!’

   1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, IV.1

present singular third person levers · participle present levering · participle past levered · past levered

1. transitiveTo move with a lever.

   With great effort and a big crowbar I managed to lever the beam off the floor.

   1 more example

   Someone found a pick and levered a burst plank out of the floor, and in a few minutes we had got a fire alight and our drenched clothes were steaming.

   1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VII, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC

   Synonyms: purchase

2. figurativelytransitiveTo use, operate or move (something) like a lever (physically).

   Suddenly he had levered himself up from the sofa, rocking the lame man violently, and was walking towards the receptionist.

   1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 1

   2 more examples

   Sullen now, with stultified spleen, Mrs Dibble grappled her crutches and levered herself upright after an ungainly struggle.

   1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 150

   The guard at the door coughed up blood, and died instantly. Fina was carrying an empty rifle with a sharpened bayonet, and she'd thrust it straight up through his neck, severing the spinal cord. She levered him off the front stoop and into the bushes, then stood up on the tips of her toes to peer through the window in the door.

   2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024

3. figurativelytransitiveTo use (something) like a lever (in an abstract sense).

   He was a man who levered his way from small-time communist hack to political power by tapping into the most potent vein of historical juice in the Balkans: nationalism.

   2001 April 9, Joshua Cooper Ramo, “Bagging the Butcher”, in Time

   1 more example

   Credited with pioneering the detective novel, Collins has attracted many biographers over the years, drawn to his extraordinary life and work in the hope of levering open a new understanding of the Victorian psyche.

   2013 December 8, Robert McCrum, “Biographies of the year — review”, in The Guardian

4. UKbusinessTo increase the share of debt in the capitalization of a business.

   "The equity holders want you to 'lever up,' use as much debt as you can," said David Stanley, chairman of Kansas City-based Payless Cashways,

   1989 June 26, “Corporate America wants its privacy”, in Minneapolis Star-Tribune

alternative liever

1. not comparableobsoleteRather.

   For leuer had I die, then ſee his deadly face.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 128

   3 more examples

   Now therfore take my life from me / for I had leuer dye then liue.

   [1531, William Tyndale, transl.], The prophete Ionas […], [Antwerp: Merten de Keyser], chapter iiij:[3]

   The wolde ſome mayſter perhappes clowt ye / But as for me ye nede nat doute ye / For I had leuer be without ye / Then haue ſuche beſyneſſe aboute ye.

   [1545?], John Heywood, The Playe Called The Foure PP […], London: […] Wyllyam Myddylton, →OCLC; reprinted as John S. Farmer, editor, The Play Called The Four PP […] (The Tudor Facsimile Texts), London; Edinburgh: […] T. C. & E. C. Jack, […], 1908, →OCLC, signature [E.ii.], verso

   For although they were worthy of any puniſhment: yit had I leuer they might haue flooriſhed in welfare and ſafetie: […]

   1571, John Calvin, “Iohn Calvin to the Godly Readers Sendeth Greeting”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for Lucas Harison, and G[e]orge Byshop, →OCLC, 1st part

plural levers

1. rareA levee.

   We do not appear at Phœbus's Levér.

   1742, Miss Robinson, Mrs. Delany's Letters, II.191

   1 more example

   Louis XIV’s day began with a lever at 9 and ended (officially) at around midnight.

   2011 September 21, Tim Blanning, “The reinvention of the night”, in Times Literary Supplement

plural Levers

1. A surname.