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[shaft, shahft]
Examples Word Origin
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
16.
17.
noun
a long pole forming the body of various weapons, as lances,
halberds, or arrows.
something directed or barbed as in sharp attack:
"shafts of sarcasm."
a ray or beam:
"a shaft of sunlight."
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.
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.
a flagpole.
Architecture.
that part of a column or pier between the base and capital. a.
any distinct, slender, vertical masonry feature engaged in a wall
or pier and usually supporting or feigning to support an arch or
vault.
b.
verb (used with object)
to push or propel with a pole:
"to shaft a boat through a tunnel."
Informal. to treat in a harsh, unfair, or treacherous manner.
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Spell Syllables
Origin
Middle English
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/browse/Middle%20English)
Old English
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Difficulty index for shaft
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Word Value for shaft


Scrabble Words With
Friends
Quotes with shaft
"Mr. President, we must not allow a
mine shaft gap!"
- Stanley Kubrick
"(...) fought;
frantic, we flung the last
imperious, desperate shaft
and lost."
- Hilda Doolittle
"The subterranean miner that works
in us all, how can one tell whither
leads his shaft by the ever..."
- Herman Melville
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shaft
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2014.
Cite This Source (http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=shaft&ia=luna)
before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceaft; cognate with German
Schaft; compare Latin scpus shaft, Greek skptron scepter
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/scepter)
shaftless, adjective
shaftlike, adjective
subshaft, noun
unshafted, adjective
1000
Related forms
Examples for shaft
The inflorescence is the flowering part of the plant, and consists of a
central shaft called a spadix.
The magical shaft of light will soon be gone, the tides will transform the
waves, the eons will change the rocks.
The walls of the burial shaft were made in part with carved stone slabs,
known as stelae.
British Dictionary definitions for shaft
/ft/
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
noun
the long narrow pole that forms the body of a spear, arrow, etc
something directed at a person in the manner of a missile shafts of
sarcasm
a ray, beam, or streak, esp of light
a rod or pole forming the handle of a hammer, axe, golf club, etc
a revolving rod that transmits motion or power: usually used of
axial rotation Compare rod (/browse/rod) (sense 9)
More Quotes
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/shaft)
Related Words
aftershaft
(http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/aftershaft)
propeller shaft
(http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/propeller%20shaft)
quill
(http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/quill)
shaft alley
(http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/shaft%20alley)
shank
(http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/shank)
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cite This Source (http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=shaft&ia=ced2)
Word Origin and History for shaft
Online Etymology Dictionary, 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source (http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=shaft&ia=etymon2)
n.
Old English sceaft "long, slender rod, staff, pole; spear-shaft; spear,"
from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz (cf. Old Norse skapt, Old Saxon skaft,
Old High German scaft, German schaft, Dutch schacht, not found in
Gothic), which some connect with a Germanic passive past participle of
PIE root *(s)kep- "to cut, to scrape" (cf. Old English scafan "to shave,
scrape, polish") on notion of "tree branch stripped of its bark." But cf.
Latin scapus "shaft, stem, shank," Greek skeptron "a staff" (see
scepter (/browse/scepter)) which appear to be cognates.
Meaning "beam or ray" (of light, etc.) is attested from c.1300. Sense of
"an arrow" is from c.1400; that of "a handle" from 1520s. Mechanical
sense is from 1680s. Vulgar slang meaning "penis" first recorded 1719
on notion of "columnar part" (late 14c.); hence probably shaft (/browse
/shaft) (v.) and the related noun sense "act of unfair treatment"
(1959), though some early sources insist this is from the notion of a
"wound."
"long, narrow passage sunk into the earth," early 15c., probably from
shaft (/browse/shaft) (n.1) on notion of "long and cylindrical," perhaps
as a translation of cognate Low German schacht in this sense (Grimm's
suggestion, though OED is against it). Or it may represent a separate
(unrecorded) development in Old English directly from Proto-Germanic
*skaftaz if the original sense is "scrape, dig." The slang sense of shaft
(n.1) is punned upon in country music song "She Got the Gold Mine, I
Got the Shaft," a hit for Jerry Reed in 1982.
v.
"treat cruelly and unfairly," by 1958, perhaps from shaft (/browse
/shaft) (n.1) with overtones of sodomy. Related: Shafted; shafting.
shaft in Medicine
The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin
Company.
Cite This Source (http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=shaft&ia=ahsmd)
shaft (shft)
n.
An elongated rodlike structure, such as the midsection of a long
bone.
1.
The section of a hair projecting from the surface of the body. 2.
Slang definitions & phrases for shaft
shaft
Nearby words for shaft
shady (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse
/shady)
shaef (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse
/shaef)
shaffer (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse
/shaffer)
shafi'i (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse
/shafi%27i)
shafii (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse
/shafi%CA%BFi)
shaft
(http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/shaft)
shaft alley (http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/shaft%20alley)
shaft feather (http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/shaft%20feather)
shaft grave (http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/shaft%20grave)
shaft horsepower (http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/shaft%20horsepower)
shaft house (http://dictionary.reference.com
/browse/shaft%20house)
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More from Dictionary.com
The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L.
Chapman, Ph.D.
Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.
Cite This Source (http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=shaft&ia=das)
verb
To treat unfairly or cruelly; victimize: When do you shaft a pal, when
do you hand him the poison cup?/ The oil companies you leased the
land to shafted you out of an estimated $650 million
[1950s+; fr the notion of sodomizing a victim]
shaft
noun phrase
Unfair or cruel treatment: Jamaicans have learned from past
experience to expect the shaft from foreign journalists (1950s+)
Related Terms
get the shaft (/browse/get the shaft), give someone the shaft
(/browse/give someone the shaft)
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