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shaft

 - 7 dictionary results
shaft find Baoli
Professional in precision machinery parts,stamping,welding and bending.
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Air Shafts & Core Chucks
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shaft

  [shaft, shahft]
Use shaft in a Sentence
–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. 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 skêptron scepter

Related forms:
shaftless, adjective
shaftlike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To shaft
shaft find Baoli
Professional in precision machinery parts,stamping,welding and bending.
www.machining-stamping.com
Air Shafts & Core Chucks
Also Slitting Equipment - Direct from Manufacturer
www.wistec.net
shaft   (shāft)   
n.  

    1. The long narrow stem or body of a spear or arrow.

    2. A spear or arrow.

    3. A projectile suggestive of a spear or arrow in appearance or configuration.

    4. Informal A scornfully satirical comment; a barb.

    5. Slang Harsh, unfair treatment. Often used with the: The president of the airline really gave the unions the shaft.

    6. The handle of any of various tools or implements.

    7. One of two parallel poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle.

    8. A long, generally cylindrical bar that rotates and transmits power, as the drive shaft of an engine.

    9. The midsection of a long bone; the diaphysis.

    10. The section of a hair projecting from the surface of the body.

    11. A column or obelisk.

    12. The principal portion of a column, between the capital and the base.

    1. A projectile suggestive of a spear or arrow in appearance or configuration.

    2. Informal A scornfully satirical comment; a barb.

    3. Slang Harsh, unfair treatment. Often used with the: The president of the airline really gave the unions the shaft.

    4. The handle of any of various tools or implements.

    5. One of two parallel poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle.

    6. A long, generally cylindrical bar that rotates and transmits power, as the drive shaft of an engine.

    7. The midsection of a long bone; the diaphysis.

    8. The section of a hair projecting from the surface of the body.

    9. A column or obelisk.

    10. The principal portion of a column, between the capital and the base.

  3. A ray or beam of light.

  4. A long thin object or part, as:

    1. The handle of any of various tools or implements.

    2. One of two parallel poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle.

    3. A long, generally cylindrical bar that rotates and transmits power, as the drive shaft of an engine.

    4. The midsection of a long bone; the diaphysis.

    5. The section of a hair projecting from the surface of the body.

    6. A column or obelisk.

    7. The principal portion of a column, between the capital and the base.

  5. Zoology The main axis of a feather, especially its distal portion.

  6. Anatomy

    1. The midsection of a long bone; the diaphysis.

    2. The section of a hair projecting from the surface of the body.

    3. A column or obelisk.

    4. The principal portion of a column, between the capital and the base.

  7. Architecture

    1. A column or obelisk.

    2. The principal portion of a column, between the capital and the base.

  8. A long, narrow, often vertical passage sunk into the earth, as for mining ore; a tunnel.

  9. A vertical passage housing an elevator.

  10. A duct or conduit for the passage of air, as for ventilation or heating.

tr.v.   shaft·ed, shaft·ing, shafts

  1. To equip with a shaft.

  2. Slang To treat in a harsh, unfair way: "He had been shafted by the press quite a bit" (Frank Deford).


[Middle English, from Old English sceaft.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
shaft

  1. n.
    a bad deal; unfair treatment. : He really gave me the shaft.
  2. tv.
    to do wrong to someone; to harm or cheat someone. (See also shafted.) : We are going to shaft this guy in a way that he will remember.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

shaft  (1)
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.

shaft  (2)
"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."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: shaft
Pronunciation: 'shaft
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural shafts /'shaf(t)s/
: a long slender cylindricalbody or part: as a : the cylindrical part of a long bone between the enlarged ends b : HAIRSHAFT
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

shaft (shāft)
n.

  1. An elongated rodlike structure, such as the midsection of a long bone.

  2. 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.
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