Dictionary Definition
shaft
Noun
1 a line that forms the length of an arrow
pointer
2 an aggressive remark directed at a person like
a missile and intended to have a telling effect; "his parting shot
was `drop dead'"; "she threw shafts of sarcasm"; "she takes a dig
at me every chance she gets" [syn: shot, slam, dig, barb, jibe, gibe]
3 a long rod or pole (especially the handle of an
implement or the body of a weapon like a spear or arrow)
4 a column of light (as from a beacon) [syn:
beam, beam of
light, light beam,
ray, ray of
light, shaft of
light, irradiation]
5 the main (mid) section of a long bone [syn:
diaphysis]
8 a vertical passageway through a building (as
for an elevator)
9 (architecture) upright consisting of the
vertical part of a column [syn: scape]
10 a vertical passage into a mine
11 a revolving rod that transmits power or motion
[syn: rotating
shaft]
Verb
1 equip with a shaft
2 defeat someone in an expectation through
trickery or deceit [syn: cheat, chouse, screw, chicane, jockey]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɑːft
Noun
- The long narrow body of a spear or arrow
- Her hand slipped off of the javelin's shaft towards the spearpoint and thats why her score was lowered, Sam.
- A beam or ray of light
- Isn't that shaft of light from that opening in the cave beautiful?
- Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool, one of the poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle, the drive shaft
of an engine.
- Dude, the baseball bat's shaft got broken by the amazing pitch!
- The main axis of a
feather
- I had no idea that they removed the feathers' shafts to make the pillows softer!
- The long narrow body of a lacrosse
stick
- Sarah if you wear gloves your hands might not slip on your shaft and you can up your game, girl!
- A long narrow
passage sunk into the earth, for mining etc; a mineshaft.
- Your grandfather used to work with a crane hauling ore out of the gold mines shafts.
- A vertical passage
housing a lift or elevator; a liftshaft.
- Darn it, my keys fell through the gap and into the elevator shaft.
- A ventilation or
heating conduit
- My bird flew into the air duct and got stuck in the shaft.
- A malicious act,
as in “to give someone the shaft”
- That bitch at work gave me the shaft, she ratted me out to the boss for being late!
- The shaft of the penis
- I grabbed his big cock by the shaft and squeezed it hard to his grudging approval.
Translations
long narrow body of spear or arrow
- Finnish: varsi
beam or ray of light
- Finnish: valokeila
main axis of a feather
- Finnish: ruoto
lacrosse: long narrow body of the stick
- Finnish: varsi
long narrow passage sunk into the earth
- Finnish: kuilu, kaivoskuilu
vertical passage housing a lift
- Finnish: kuilu, hissikuilu
ventilation or heating conduit
- Finnish: kanava
the shaft of the penis
- Finnish: varsi, kanki
- Spanish: tronco
Verb
- to equip something with a shaft
- transitive slang To have sexual intercourse with someone
- transitive slang To engage in a malicious act, as in "He got shafted."
Translations
to equip with a shaft
- Finnish: varttaa
slang: to have sexual intercourse
- Finnish: kepittää
slang: to engage in a malicious act
- Finnish: mopottaa
Extensive Definition
Shaft can refer to:
In fiction:
- 1971 novel by Ernest
Tidyman about an African-American private detective
- Shaft
(1971 film), a film based on the novel
- Shaft (album), the soundtrack for the film, recorded by Isaac Hayes
- "Theme from Shaft", performed by Isaac Hayes
- Shaft's Big Score, the second film in the trilogy
- Shaft in Africa, the third film in the trilogy
- Shaft (2000 film), a sequel of the 1971 film, released in 2000
- Shaft (television), a series of TV movies
- John Shaft, the title character of the above films
- Shaft
(1971 film), a film based on the novel
- Shaft (Castlevania), the dark priest from the Castlevania video game series
- Shaft (comics), a Marvel Comics ninja character
- Shaft (youngblood), a comic book character
- DriveShaft, a fictional rock band in the TV series Lost
- a weapon in the Quake video game series
Music:
- Shaft (rave), a UK dance music act which had a 1991 hit with 'Roobarb and Custard' sampling vintage children's television programme 'Roobarb'
- Shaft (band), a dance music act which had a 1999 hit with a cover/remix of (Mucho Mambo) Sway
- Shaft (New Zealand band), a New Zealand indie band
- Shaft (club), a blues and jazz club in Istanbul, Turkey
Places:
- Borden Shaft, Maryland, formerly called Shaft
- Shaft County, an administrative division of Gīlān Province in Iran
- Shaft, Iran, the capital of Shaft County
Enclosed spaces:
- Elevator shaft
- Ventilation shaft
- Pitch (vertical space), a significant underground vertical space in caving terminology
- Shaft mining
- Shafting, illict travelling through shafts
Rotating devices:
- Axle, a central (usually non-rotating) shaft around which a wheel or gear or similar device rotates
- Spindle, a central (usually rotating) shaft, to which a wheel or gear or similar device may be attached
- Driveshaft, a shaft for transferring power
Other:
- Shaft (company), a Japanese animation company
shaft in Czech: Šachta
shaft in German: Shaft
shaft in French: Shaft
shaft in Italian: Shaft
shaft in Dutch: Shaft
shaft in Japanese: シャフト
shaft in Portuguese: Fuste
shaft in Simple English: Shaft
shaft in Finnish: Shaft
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abysm,
abyss, adit, air duct, air hole, air
passage, air shaft, air tube, airway, antenna tower, arch, arrow, arrowhead, baluster, balustrade, banister, bank, barb, barbican, barbule, barrel, barrow, base, beam, belfry, bell tower, blowhole, bobtailed arrow,
bolt, boundary stone,
brass, breathing hole,
bust, cairn, campanile, caryatid, cavity, cenotaph, chasm, chested arrow, cilium, cloth yard shaft, coal
mine, colliery,
colonnade, colossus, column, crater, crevasse, cromlech, cross, cup, cupola, cut, cyclolith, dado, dart, deep, depth, derrick, die, dig, diggings, dolmen, dome, duct, excavation, filament, filamentule, fire tower,
flight, flue, footstalk, footstone, gibe, gleam, gold mine, grave, gravestone, gulf, handle, headstone, helve, hoarstone, hole, hollow, inscription, jab, jack, jibe, knock, lantern, lighthouse, louver, louverwork, marker, martello, martello tower,
mast, mausoleum, megalith, memento, memorial, memorial arch,
memorial column, memorial statue, memorial stone, menhir, minaret, mine, monolith, monument, mound, naris, necrology, newel-post,
nostril, obelisk, obituary, observation tower,
open cut, opencast,
pagoda, pedestal, pedicel, peduncle, pencil, pier, pilaster, pile, piling, pillar, pinnacle, pit, plaque, plinth, pole, post, potshot, prize, put-down, pylon, pyramid, quarrel, quarry, queen-post, quill, ray, reed, reliquary, remembrance, ribbon, rod, rostral column, screw, screwing, shank, shoot, shrine, skyscraper, socle, spilehole, spiracle, spire, staff, stalk, stanchion, stand, standard, standpipe, steeple, stela, stem, stick, sting, stone, streak, stupa, subbase, surbase, tablet, television mast, testimonial, thrust, tomb, tombstone, tope, touchhole, tour, tower, transom, trophy, trunk, tunnel, turret, upright, vent, ventage, venthole, ventiduct, ventilating shaft,
ventilator, volley, water tower, well, wind tunnel, windmill tower,
workings, yawning
abyss