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shaft
[ shaft, shahft ]
noun
- a long pole forming the body of various weapons, as lances, halberds, or arrows.
- something directed or barbed as in sharp attack:
shafts of sarcasm.
- a ray or beam:
a shaft of sunlight.
- 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.
- 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.
- a flagpole.
- Architecture.
- that part of a column or pier between the base and capital.
- any distinct, slender, vertical masonry feature engaged in a wall or pier and usually supporting or feigning to support an arch or vault.
- a monument in the form of a column, obelisk, or the like.
- either of the parallel bars of wood between which the animal drawing a vehicle is hitched.
- any well-like passage or vertical enclosed space, as in a building:
an elevator shaft.
- Mining. a vertical or sloping passageway leading to the surface.
- Botany. the trunk of a tree.
- Zoology. the main stem or midrib of a feather.
- 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.
- the part of a candelabrum that supports the branches.
- Slang: Vulgar. the penis.
- Slang: harsh, unfair, or treacherous treatment:
I feel like he’s giving me the shaft.
verb (used with object)
- to push or propel with a pole:
to shaft a boat through a tunnel.
- Slang. to treat in a harsh, unfair, or treacherous manner.
shaft
/ ʃɑːft /
noun
- the long narrow pole that forms the body of a spear, arrow, etc
- something directed at a person in the manner of a missile
shafts of sarcasm
- a ray, beam, or streak, esp of light
- a rod or pole forming the handle of a hammer, axe, golf club, etc
- See roda revolving rod that transmits motion or power: usually used of axial rotation Compare rod
- one of the two wooden poles by which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle
- anatomy
- the middle part (diaphysis) of a long bone
- the main portion of any elongated structure or part
- the middle part of a column or pier, between the base and the capital
- a column, obelisk, etc, esp one that forms a monument
- architect a column that supports a vaulting rib, sometimes one of a set
- a vertical passageway through a building, as for a lift
- a vertical passageway into a mine
- ornithol the central rib of a feather
- See arrowan archaic or literary word for arrow
- get the shaft slang.get the shaft to be tricked or cheated
verb
- slang.to have sexual intercourse with (a woman)
- slang.to trick or cheat
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Other Words From
- shaftless adjective
- shaftlike adjective
- subshaft noun
- un·shafted adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of shaft1
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Example Sentences
Wandering around Tribeca, you may stumble upon a decrepit elevator shaft that's full of curiosities.
A man had killed himself by jumping out the window at the top, while a woman had done so by jumping down the elevator shaft.
In one tragic incident in 1965, a man named Bob Restall passed out in the shaft and fell into the water.
Any celebration of these findings was quickly quashed as the shaft continued to flood and delay the work.
For decades, explorers struggled to cap an endless flood of water that prevented access to the shaft.
His arm was drawn around the drum, and finally his whole body was drawn over the shaft, at a fearful rate.
"I did n't fly off the handle," said the screw, twirling huskily at the end of the screw-shaft.
It was placed immediately over the shaft and pump-rods, requiring no engine-beam.
The case was fixed over the engine-shaft on two beams of timber from wall to wall.
The pole-case was fixed to strong beams immediately over the pump-shaft.
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