Definition of "mineshaft" [mineshaft]

• A vertical or sloping passageway made in the earth for finding or mining ore and ventilating underground excavations. (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 canary in the mineshaft is the music industry."
• "As a person who is by nature very direct and to the point, dating is a mystery trapped in a puzzle, tucked in a fireproof safe thrown down a mineshaft."
• "Precisely, why Greece is the canary in the mineshaft for Euro economies."