SHAFT

I. noun (plural ~s) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sceaft; akin to Old High German scaft ~, Latin scapus ~, stalk, Greek skēptesthai to prop oneself, lean Date: before 12th century 1. a. the long handle of a spear or similar weapon, spear , lance , pole , c. an arrow especially for a longbow, the body or stem of an arrow extending from the nock to the head, a sharply delineated beam of light shining through an opening, something suggestive of the ~ of a spear or arrow especially in long slender cylindrical form: as, the trunk of a tree, the cylindrical pillar between the capital and the base, the handle of a tool or instrument (as a golf club), a commonly cylindrical bar used to support rotating pieces or to transmit power or motion by rotation, the stem or central axis of a feather, the upright member of a cross especially below the arms, the cylindrical part of a long bone between the enlarged ends, a small architectural column (as at each side of a doorway), a column, obelisk, or other spire-shaped or columnar monument, a vertical or inclined opening of uniform and limited cross section made for finding or mining ore, raising water, or ventilating underground workings (as in a cave), the part of a hair that is visible above the surface of the skin, a vertical opening or passage through the floors of a building, 4. a projectile thrown like a spear or shot like an arrow, a scornful, satirical, or pithily critical remark or attack, harsh or unfair treatment, II. transitive verb Date: 1611 to fit with a ~, to treat unfairly or harshly