[shah-doof] 
| a device used in Egypt and other Eastern countries for raising water, esp. for irrigation, consisting of a long suspended rod with a bucket at one end and a weight at the other. |
| sha·doof also sha·duf (shä-dōōf') n. A device consisting of a long suspended pole weighted at one end and having a bucket at the other end, used in the Near East and especially Egypt for raising water, as for the irrigation of land. [Arabic šādūf.] |
| sha·duf (shä-dōōf') n. Variant of shadoof. |
shaduf
hand-operatedhand-operated device for lifting water, invented in ancient times and still used in India, Egypt, and some other countries to irrigate land. Typically it consists of a long, tapering, nearly horizontal pole mounted like a seesaw. A skin or bucket is hung on a rope from the long end, and a counterweight is hung on the short end. The operator pulls down on a rope attached to the long end to fill the bucket and allows the counterweight to raise the bucket. To raise water to higher levels, a series of shadufs are sometimes mounted one above the other. In India the device is called a denkli, or paecottah.
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