Word: shaft Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English chafte, saft, scaft, schaft, schafte, scheft, shaffet, shaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz (“shaft”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeh₂p- (“club, rod, shaft, staff”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch schacht (“shaft”), German Schaft (“shaft”), Low German Schacht, Skacht (“shaft; cane, stick; beating”), Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish skaft (“handle; stem; shaft”); also Latin scapus (“stalk, stem; shaft”), Greek σκήπτρο (skíptro, “sceptre”), Albanian shkop (“staff, stick”), Belarusian кап'ё (kapʺjó, “spear”), Bulgarian ко́пие (kópie, “spear”), Czech kopí (“spear”), Macedonian копје (kopje, “spear”), Polish kopia (“spear”), Russian копьё (kopʹjó, “spear”), Serbo-Croatian ко̏пље, kȍplje (“spear”), Slovak kopija (“spear”), Slovene kopje (“javelin”). 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: /ˈʃɑːft/, /ˈʃɐːft/, [ˈʃɐ̞ːft], /ˈʃæft/, /ˈʃaft/ 1. The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow. Labels: obsolete Example: A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele, the feathers, and the head. 2. The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin. Example: Her hand slipped off the javelin's shaft towards the spearpoint and that's why her score was lowered. Example: Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.[…]. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft. 3. Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin. Labels: broadly Example: […]and the Thunder, / Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage, / Perhaps hath ſpent his ſhafts […] Example: The correction of theſe will reſtore its proper dignity to the ſtudy of antiquities, and cauſe the ſhafts of ridicule, which have been ſucceſsfully thrown at it, to recoil. 4. Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool. Example: While Kitto chatted to William, Jessamy looked with interest at the dog cart. It had a pair of high wooden wheels with two seats back to back above. Between the shafts the bay mare tossed her head and fidgeted on the cobbles. 5. Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool. Example: Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work. 6. Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool. Example: Sarah, if you wear gloves your hands might not slip on your shaft and you can up your game, girl! 7. A beam or ray of light. Labels: literary Example: Isn't that shaft of light from that opening in the cave beautiful? Example: They were a fine company of old women, and a Dutch painter would have loved to find them there together, where the sun made bright patches on the floor and sent long, quivering shafts of gold through the dusky shade up among the rafters. 8. The main axis of a feather. Example: I had no idea that they removed the feathers' shafts to make the pillows softer! 9. A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine. Example: Your grandfather used to work with a crane hauling ore out of the gold mine's shafts. 10. A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator. Example: Darn it, my keys fell through the gap and into the elevator shaft. 11. A ventilation or heating conduit. Example: Our parrot flew into the air duct and got stuck in the shaft. 12. Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal. Example: Spirit, that made those heroes dare / To die, or leave their children free / Bid Time and Nature gently spare / The shaft we raise to thee. 13. The main cylindrical part of the penis. Example: The female labia minora is homologous to the penis shaft skin of males. 14. The chamber of a blast furnace. 15. A relatively small area of precipitation that an onlook can discern from the dry surrounding area. 16. A component of a loom which holds the heddles and is raised by treadles to create the shed. Example: Eight shafts are required to weave this structure. If you have four shafts, you may weave something similar by threading alternate blocks to plain weave and 2/2 basket. 17. An act of sexual intercourse. Labels: slang Example: 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.