means The act of stealing goods from a store by concealing them and leaving without paying.

from A compound of "shop" plus "lift" — and that "lift" is the key. Long before it meant raising something up, "lift" carried a thieving sense, as in to "lift" a wallet (a usage with old roots, possibly related to a Gothic word for stealing). "Shoplift" and "shoplifter" surface in English around the late 17th century, when growing retail shops gave petty thieves a fresh hunting ground; the act "shoplifting" naturally followed.