To hoist means to raise or lift something heavy, usually with ropes, pulleys, or mechanical equipment. When sailors hoist a flag up a flagpole, they're pulling it to the top using a rope. When construction workers hoist steel beams into place on a tall building, they use cranes and cables to lift materials that would be impossible to carry by hand.

The word suggests effort and mechanical advantage. You wouldn't say you hoisted a pencil, but you might hoist a bicycle onto a car rack or hoist a heavy box onto a high shelf. Pirates in old adventure stories hoisted their black flags before attacking, and ships hoist their anchors when preparing to leave port.

As a noun, a hoist is the device used for lifting, like a hoist in a garage or on a construction site.

There's also a famous phrase: “hoisted by one's own petard.” It means being hurt by your own trick or plan, like a student who creates a complicated excuse that ends up getting them in more trouble. The phrase comes from an old explosive device called a petard, which sometimes blew up the person trying to use it. When someone's clever scheme backfires on them, they've been hoisted by their own petard.