English Explanatory Dictionary

shaft

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
  2. The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.
  3. Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.
  4. Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool.
  5. One of the poles between which a draught animal is harnessed to a vehicle.
  6. A rotating machine element used to transmit power; a driveshaft
  7. The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick.
  8. A beam or ray of light.
  9. The main axis of a feather.
  10. A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine.
  11. A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator.
  12. A ventilation or heating conduit.
verb
  1. To fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.
  2. To equip with a shaft.
  3. To fuck; to have sexual intercourse with.

Pronunciation

/ʃɑːft/ /ʃæft/ En-au-shaft.ogg

Word forms

shaft shafts shafting shafted

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.

Synonyms

stale pole carriage pole rachis mineshaft liftshaft airduct harness abuse beglammer counterfeit deceive dissemble dissimulate feign jiff lead astray overreach put on spoof sham trick Formal terms bed coit coitize dight enjoy feague go in unto go to bed with have know lie by lie with love mount occupy penetrate season seduce sleep with take Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with" Informal and slang terms ball bang bauf beep be with bone boff boink bonk boom-boom dick diddle dig out do doink

Derived words

aftershaft airshaft angle shaft backshaft bareshaft brakeshaft camshaft cardan shaft clutchshaft cockshaft countershaft counter shaft crankshaft driveshaft drive shaft driving shaft dropshaft elevator shaft equivalent shaft horsepower foreshaft get the shaft give someone the shaft hail shaft hairshaft half shaftradial shaft seal jackshaft layshaft liftshaft line shaft mainshaft Microshaft midshaft mineshaft mine shaft nonshaft prickshaft propeller shaft propshaft prop shaft reversing shaft rock shaft shaft alley shaft bow shaft cave shaft encoder shaft furnace shaft horsepower shafthouse shaftie shaftless shaftlike shaftman shaftment shaftsman shaftway shaftwork shafty spearshaft subshaft sunshaft

Translations

Bulgarian: дръжка на копие Chinese Mandarin: 杆 Czech: násada Czech: dřík Czech: hřídel Dutch: schacht Esperanto: fusto Finnish: varsi Finnish: aisa Finnish: akseli Finnish: kanki French: hampe Galician: hasta German: Schaft German: Stange Greek: στέλεχος Greek: στειλιάρι Greek: στύλος Ancient Greek: κῆλον Ancient Greek: στελεά Ancient Greek: κάμαξ Hungarian: nyél Hungarian: szár Hungarian: rúd Italian: lancia Italian: asta Italian: prolunga Macedonian: ра́чка Macedonian: др́шка Macedonian: о́ска Māori: kawau Māori: kakau Middle English: schaft Muna: duruka Khiamniungan Naga: lāi Norwegian Bokmål: skaft Old English: sċeaft Persian: چوبه Middle Persian: 𐭰𐭥𐭯𐭪 Plautdietsch: Staum Plautdietsch: Scheft Portuguese: haste Portuguese: cabo Russian: дре́вко Russian: сте́ржень Russian: ось Spanish: asta Spanish: astil Spanish: vara Spanish: barra Spanish: palier Spanish: eje Spanish: caña Swedish: skaft Swedish: stång Thai: เพลา Thai: ทูบ Turkish: ok sapı Ottoman Turkish: كوندر Ottoman Turkish: اوق Ottoman Turkish: ایك Basque: haga Catalan: barra Irish: fearsaid Scottish Gaelic: cas Scottish Gaelic: crann Slovak: os Slovak: hriadeľ
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