shafting

American  

[shaf-ting, shahf-] / ˈʃæf tɪŋ, ˈʃɑf- /

noun

1. a number of shafts.

2. Machinery. a system of shafts, as the overhead shafts formerly used for driving the machinery of a mill.

3. steel bar stock used for shafts.

4. Architecture. a system of shafts, as those around a pier or in the reveals of an archway.

5. Slang. an instance of unique or unfair treatment.

   The owners gave him a real shafting on the deal.

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shafting British  

/ ˈʃɑːftɪŋ /

noun

1. an assembly of rotating shafts for transmitting power

2. the stock from which shafts are made

3. architect a set of shafts

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Etymology

Origin of shafting

First recorded in 1815–25; shaft + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

For some, it’s the beautiful place where having it all means shafting someone else, as in Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown,” about Los Angeles’ theft of water from the Owens Valley.

From Salon • Nov. 7, 2019

Lindsay was instrumental, way back in the dark ages of the fifties, in forcing the N.H.L. to redress the historic shafting of their chattels by an ownership combine stuck in nineteenth-century ideas of employee relations.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 19, 2015

Not too long ago, positive change inevitably occurred following an embarrassing news report of a company behaving badly, e.g., shafting its employees out of their justly earned wages.

From Forbes • Feb. 16, 2015

Among four citations alleging repeat safety violations were charges of unguarded elevated platforms and horizontal shafting.

From Washington Times • Jun. 16, 2014

Instead she saw...the sky—moonlight shafting through smoke, and even the glimmer of stars.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor