shaft

English Online Dictionary. What means shaft‎? What does shaft mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English schaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz. Cognate with Dutch schacht, German German Schaft, Swedish skaft.

In Early Modern English, shaft referred to the entire body of a long weapon, such that an arrow's “shaft” was composed of its tip, stale, and fletching. Over time, the word came to be used in place of the former stale and lost its original meaning.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʃɑːft/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ʃæft/
• Rhymes: -ɑːft

Noun

shaft (plural shafts)

1. (obsolete) The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
3. The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.

   Synonym: stale
4. (by extension) Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.
5. Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool.
   2. One of the poles between which a draught animal is harnessed to a vehicle.

      Synonyms: pole, carriage pole
   4. A rotating machine element used to transmit power; a driveshaft
   6. (lacrosse) The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick.

6. (literary) A beam or ray of light.
8. The main axis of a feather.

   Synonym: rachis

9. A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine.

   Synonym: mineshaft

11. A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator.

    Synonym: liftshaft

12. A ventilation or heating conduit.

    Synonym: airduct

13. (architecture) Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal.
14. (anatomy) The main cylindrical part of the penis.

15. The chamber of a blast furnace.
16. (meteorology) A relatively small area of precipitation that an onlook can discern from the dry surrounding area.
17. (slang) An act of sexual intercourse.
    • 2012, Najat El Hachmi, The Last Patriarch (page 286)

      I sat on the sofa, got up, changed channels and doubted there'd be time to have a quick shaft and feign an orgasm today.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

shaft (third-person singular simple present shafts, present participle shafting, simple past and past participle shafted)

1. (transitive, slang) To fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:deceive
2. (transitive) To equip with a shaft.
3. (transitive, slang) To fuck; to have sexual intercourse with.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:copulate with

Translations

Anagrams

• Faths, hafts

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English sċeaft (“shaft”).

Noun

shaft

1. alternative form of schaft (“shaft”)
   • c. 1343-1400, Geoffrey Chaucer:

     His sleep, his meat, his drink, is him bereft, / That lean he wax, and dry as is a shaft.

Etymology 2

From Old English sċeaft (“creation”).

Noun

shaft

1. alternative form of schaft (“creation”)