Definition of "shaft" []

• The long narrow stem or body of a spear or arrow. (noun)
• A spear or arrow. (noun)
• A projectile suggestive of a spear or arrow in appearance or configuration. (noun)
• Informal A scornfully satirical comment; a barb. (noun)
• Slang Harsh, unfair treatment. Often used with the: The president of the airline really gave the unions the shaft. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The arrangement may be called an electric clutch, that may be arranged in many ways, and the detail of its action is unimportant in description, so that it be borne in mind that _each time a notch is passed in turning the shaft by drawing upon or relaxing the cords attached to the pencil-point_, an impulse of electricity is sent to an electro-magnet and armature which allows _a corresponding wheel and its shaft to turn one notch, or as many notches, as are passed at the transmitting shaft_."
• "We don't know if we're going down to the ground floor or to the basement or whether the entire lift shaft is empty and we're plunging to our doom."
• "Once the shaft is completed and has been fitted with the proper equipment, the men are to be brought up one at a time in a metal capsule."