shaft

American  

[shaft, shahft] / ʃæft, ʃɑft /

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.

   1. that part of a column or pier between the base and capital.

   2. 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.

16. Slang: Vulgar. the penis.

17. Slang: harsh, unfair, or treacherous treatment.

    I feel like he’s giving me the shaft.

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verb (used with object)

1. to push or propel with a pole.

   to shaft a boat through a tunnel.

2. Slang. to treat in a harsh, unfair, or treacherous manner.

shaft British  

/ ʃɑːft /

noun

1. the long narrow pole that forms the body of a spear, arrow, etc

2. something directed at a person in the manner of a missile

   shafts of sarcasm

3. a ray, beam, or streak, esp of light

4. a rod or pole forming the handle of a hammer, axe, golf club, etc

5. a revolving rod that transmits motion or power: usually used of axial rotation Compare rod

6. one of the two wooden poles by which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle

7. anatomy

   1. the middle part (diaphysis) of a long bone

   2. the main portion of any elongated structure or part

8. the middle part of a column or pier, between the base and the capital

9. a column, obelisk, etc, esp one that forms a monument

10. architect a column that supports a vaulting rib, sometimes one of a set

11. a vertical passageway through a building, as for a lift

12. a vertical passageway into a mine

13. ornithol the central rib of a feather

14. an archaic or literary word for arrow

15. slang to be tricked or cheated

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verb

1. slang to have sexual intercourse with (a woman)

2. slang to trick or cheat

Other Word Forms

• shaftless adjective
• shaftlike adjective
• subshaft noun
• unshafted adjective

Etymology

Origin of shaft

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceaft; cognate with German Schaft; compare Latin scāpus “shaft,” Greek skêptron scepter

Related Words

• beam
• chimney
• cylinder
• duct
• rod
• tunnel