Nearby Words
noun
1.
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.
EXPANDMachinery. 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.
COLLAPSEthe 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.
:10
:09
:08
:07
:06
:05
:04
:03
:02
:01
Shaftless
is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
Origin:
before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceaft; cognate with German Schaft; compare Latin scāpus shaft, Greek skêptron scepter
before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceaft; cognate with German Schaft; compare Latin scāpus shaft, Greek skêptron scepter
Related forms
shaft·less, adjective
shaft·like, adjective
sub·shaft, noun
un·shaft·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
|
Link To Shaftless
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
shaft
"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
EXPANDin 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."
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
shaft (shāft)
n.
An elongated rodlike structure, such as the midsection of a long bone.
The section of a hair projecting from the surface of the body.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
shaft definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com
Quote Of The Day
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.