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.
Obsolete The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele, the feathers, and the head.1545, Roger Ascham, Toxophilus:
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The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.
Her hand slipped off the javelin's shaft towards the spearpoint and that's why her score was lowered.
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.1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
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Broadly Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.
[…]and the Thunder, / Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage, / Perhaps hath ſpent his ſhafts […]1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:
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.1800, Vicesimus Knox, “Essay LXXIV”, in Essays Moral and Literary, volume II, page 100:
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Moya and her new friend Mamie have been shrieking appropriate quotations at one another, upstairs and down, for days past. Of course, I didn't see the exact point of the various shafts of wit until now, but this is evidently what was brewing.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
› Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool.
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One of the poles between which a draught animal is harnessed to a vehicle.
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.1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 57:
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A rotating machine element used to transmit power; a driveshaft
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.2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:
Isn't that shaft of light from that opening in the cave beautiful?
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.1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl::
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The main axis of a feather.
I had no idea that they removed the feathers' shafts to make the pillows softer!
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A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine.
Your grandfather used to work with a crane hauling ore out of the gold mine's shafts.
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A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator.
Darn it, my keys fell through the gap and into the elevator shaft.
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A ventilation or heating conduit.
Our parrot flew into the air duct and got stuck in the shaft.
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Architecture Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal.
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.1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Hymn […] ”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 251:
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Anatomy, Medicine, Sciences The main cylindrical part of the penis.
The female labia minora is homologous to the penis shaft skin of males.
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The chamber of a blast furnace.
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Climatology, Meteorology, Natural sciences A relatively small area of precipitation that an onlook can discern from the dry surrounding area.
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.1990, Sharon Alderman, A Handweaver's Notebook, →ISBN, page 93:
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.2012, Najat El Hachmi, The Last Patriarch (page 286)
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.
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Slang To fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.
Your boss really shafted you by stealing your idea like that.
Who can I trust after repeatedly being shafted1992, “Crackers And Cheese”, performed by Eminem:
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Their fate will be in each other's hands as they decide whether to share... or to shaft.2001, Shafted, spoken by Robert Kilroy-Silk:
Which grotesque auld hing-oot will the shrivelled post-menopausal slag want tae shaft? Stay tuned.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 252:
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Well at least I can get it up. No wonder Mary's going out of her head. Stuck with you sponging off her and not even a decent shafting for her trouble.2018, Sarah Phelps, 23:00, in Ordeal by Innocence, episode 2, spoken by Mickey Argyle (Christian Cooke):