King James Bible Dictionary

SH'AFT, noun L. scapus; from the root of shape, from setting, or shooting, extending.]

1. An arrow; a missile weapin; as the archer and the shaft

So loftly was the pile, a Parthian bow

Whith vigor drawn must send the shaft below. Dryden.

2. In mining, a pit or long narrow opening or entrance into a mine. [This may possibly be a different word, as in German it is written schacht, Dan. skaegte.]

3. In architecture, the shaft of a column is the body of it, between the base and the capital.

4. Any thing straight; as the shaft of a steeple, and many other things.

5. The stem or stock of a fether or quill.

6. The pole of a carriage, sometimes called tongue or neap. The thills of a chaise or geg are also called shafts.

7. The handle of a weapon.

Shaft, or white-shaft, a species of Trochilus or humming bird, having a bill twenty lines in levgth, and two long fethers in the middle of its tail.

SH'AFTED, adjective Having a handle; a term in heraldry, applied to a spearhead.

SH'AFTMENT, noun A span, a measure of about six inches. [Not in use.]