Nearby Words

shafted

[shaft, shahft] Origin

shaft

[shaft, shahft]
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.
EXPAND
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.
COLLAPSE
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.

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Shafted is always a great word to know.
So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceaft; cognate with German Schaft; compare Latin scāpus shaft, Greek skêptron scepter

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.
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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
EXPAND
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."
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
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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Slang Dictionary

shaft definition


  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.
Cite This Source

shafted definition


  1. mod.
    beaten; bested; cheated. : I really got shafted in that deal.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
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