lever

noun

1. A 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.
2. A 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.

   “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.”

3. A small such piece to trigger or control a mechanical device (like a switch or a button).
4. A 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.”

5. An arm on a rock shaft, to give motion to the shaft or to obtain motion from it.
6. (obsolete)A crowbar.

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

7. (rare)A levee.

   “We do not appear at Phœbus's Levér.”

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

verb

1. (transitive)To move with a lever.

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

   “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.”

2. (figuratively, transitive)To use, operate or move (something) like a lever (physically).

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

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

   “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.”

3. (figuratively, transitive)To 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.”

   “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.”

4. (UK)To 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,”

adv

1. (not-comparable, obsolete)Rather.

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

   “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.”

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

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

name

1. A surname.