- shaft´like´
- shaft «shaft, shahft», noun, verb.–n.1. a bar to support parts of a machine that turn, or to help move parts such as gears or pulleys, or to transmit power from one part of a machine to another, such as the drive shaft of an automobile.2. a deep passage sunk in the earth. The entrance to a mine is called a shaft. »
He had been caught by a landslide in a tiny shaft of the cave (Newsweek).
4. the long, slender stem of an arrow, spear, or lance.5. an arrow, spear, or lance.6. Figurative. something aimed at a person like an arrow or spear: »shafts of ridicule. A shield against its shafts of doubt (John Greenleaf Whittier). The shaft of love…had struck me (Arnold Bennett).
7. a) a ray or beam of light. b) Figurative: »[His] observations are a refreshing and badly needed shaft of common sense (Wall Street Journal).
8. one of the two wooden poles between which a horse is harnessed to a carriage or other vehicle.9. the main part of a column or pillar.10. a) a column. b) a column or obelisk erected as a memorial. c) = flagpole. (Cf. ↑flagpole) d) the part of a candlestick that supports the branches.11. the long, straight handle as of a hammer, ax, or golf club: »the shaft of an umbrella.
13. the rib of a feather.14. a fiber of human hair.15. the long part of a bone.–v.t.1. to fit (an arrowhead, weapon, or tool) with a shaft.2. to propel (a barge or the like) with a pole.3. Slang. to take unfair advantage of; victimize: »“If you shaft somebody who is down…then other people know they're going to get shafted, too” (New Yorker).
╂[Old English sceaft]–shaft´like´, adjective.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
