a long pole forming the body of various weapons, as lances, halberds, or arrows.
2.
something directed or barbed as in sharp attack: shafts of sarcasm.
3.
a ray or beam: a shaft of sunlight.
4.
a long, comparatively straight handle serving as an important or balancing part of an implement or device, as of a hammer, ax, golf club, or other implement.
5.
Machinery. a rotating or oscillating round, straight bar for transmitting motion and torque, usually supported on bearings and carrying gears, wheels, or the like, as a propeller shaft on a ship, or a drive shaft of an engine.
6.
a flagpole.
7.
Architecture.
a.
that part of a column or pier between the base and capital.
b.
any distinct, slender, vertical masonry feature engaged in a wall or pier and usually supporting or feigning to support an arch or vault.
8.
a monument in the form of a column, obelisk, or the like.
9.
either of the parallel bars of wood between which the animal drawing a vehicle is hitched.
10.
any well-like passage or vertical enclosed space, as in a building: an elevator shaft.
11.
Mining. a vertical or sloping passageway leading to the surface.
12.
Botany. the trunk of a tree.
13.
Zoology. the main stem or midrib of a feather.
14.
Also called leaf.Textiles. the harness or warp with reference to the pattern of interlacing threads in weave constructions (usually used in combination): an eight-shaft satin.
15.
the part of a candelabrum that supports the branches.
–verb (used with object)
16.
to push or propel with a pole: to shaft a boat through a tunnel.
17.
Informal. to treat in a harsh, unfair, or treacherous manner.
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME; OE sceaft; c. G Schaft; cf. L scāpus shaft, Gk skêptronscepter]
O.E. sceaft "long, slender rod of a staff or spear," from P.Gmc. *skaftaz (cf. O.N. skapt, O.S. skaft, O.H.G. scaft, Ger. schaft, Du. schacht, not found in Gothic), which some connect with a Gmc. passive pp. of PIE base *(s)kep- "to cut, to scrape" (cf. O.E. scafan "to shave") on notion of "tree branch stripped of its bark." But cf. L. scapus "shaft, stem, shank," which appears to be a cognate. Meaning "beam or ray" (of light, etc.) is attested from c.1300. Vulgar slang meaning "penis" first recorded 1719. Verb meaning "treat cruelly and unfairly" is 1950s, with overtones of sodomy.
"long, narrow passage sunk into the earth," 1433, probably from shaft (1) on notion of "long and cylindrical," perhaps as a translation of cognate Low Ger. schacht in this sense (Grimm's suggestion, though OED is against it). Or it may represent a separate (unrecorded) development in O.E. directly from P.Gmc. *skaftaz in the original sense of "scrape, dig." The double sense of shaft is attested in country music song title, "She Got the Gold Mine, I Got the Shaft."
an aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect; "his parting shot was 'drop dead'"; "she threw shafts of sarcasm"; "she takes a dig at me every chance she gets" [syn: shot]
3.
a long rod or pole (especially the handle of an implement or the body of a weapon like a spear or arrow)
Band\ (b[a^]nd), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Banded; p. pr. & vb. n. Banding.]1. To bind or tie with a band. 2. To mark with a band. 3. To unite in a troop, company, or confederacy. "Banded against his throne." --Milton. Banded architrave, pier, shaft, etc. (Arch.), an architrave, pier, etc., of which the regular profile is interrupted by blocks or projections crossing it at right angles.
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