Etymology

Noun

1. The long narrow body of a spear or arrow

   Her hand slipped off the javelin's shaft towards the spearpoint and that's why her score was lowered, Sam.

2. A beam or ray of light

   Isn't that shaft of light from that opening in the cave beautiful?

3. Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool, one of the poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle, or the driveshaft of a motorized vehicle with rear-wheel drive.

   Dude, the baseball bat's shaft got broken by the amazing pitch!

4. The main axis of a feather

   I had no idea that they removed the feathers' shafts to make the pillows softer!

5. The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick

   Sarah, if you wear gloves your hands might not slip on your shaft and you can up your game, girl!

6. A long narrow passage sunk into the earth, for mining etc; a mineshaft.

   Your grandfather used to work with a crane hauling ore out of the gold mine's shafts.

7. A vertical or near-vertical cave passage.
8. A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator; a liftshaft.

   Darn it, my keys fell through the gap and into the elevator shaft.

9. A ventilation or heating conduit; an air duct.

   Our parrot flew into the air duct and got stuck in the shaft.

10. A malicious act, as in “to give someone the shaft”

    That bitch at work gave me the shaft, she ratted me out to the boss for being late!

11. The main narrow part of the penis

    I grabbed his penis by the shaft and squeezed it hard to his grudging approval.

Verb

1. to equip something with a shaft
2. To have sexual intercourse with someone
3. To engage in a malicious act; to rip off, as in "He got shafted."