haft

noun, verb — 3 senses

haft

noun

US /hæft/ · UK /hɑːft/

Etymology From Middle English haft, from Old English hæft, from Proto-West Germanic *haftī, from Proto-Germanic *haftiją.

1

The handle of a tool or weapon.

See this brandiſh'd Dagger: / […] / I'll bury to the haft, in her fair breaſt, / This Inſtrument of my Revenge.1679, [John] Dryden, [Nathaniel] Lee, Oedipus: A Tragedy. […], London: […] R. Bentley and M. Magnes […], →OCLC, Act V, page 74:

Synonyms: helve
Hyponyms: hilt, stale, stail, stele, steal

haft

verb

Etymology From Middle English haft, from Old English hæft, from Proto-West Germanic *haftī, from Proto-Germanic *haftiją.

1

To fit a handle to (a tool or weapon).

Instead, they made finely crafted bone points to haft onto their spears, reserving the use of flint mostly for blades and scrapers.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 218:

2

To grip by the handle.

Derived terms: haftable

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.