Meanings
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1
noun
a long rod or pole, especially the handle of an implement or the body of a weapon like a spear or arrow
The shaft of the sword was made with the finest elm.
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2
noun
a vertical passageway through a building, usually used for an elevator
The shaft was nearly 100 meters tall!
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3
noun
The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele, the feathers, and the head.
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4
noun
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.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Middle English schaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz. Cognate with Dutch schacht, German German Schaft, Swedish skaft. 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.