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# shaft

«shaft» in Mova's school dictionary: **a long, narrow hole that goes straight down or up, such…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a shaft, shafts)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A shaft is a long, narrow hole that goes straight down or up, such as a mine shaft or a lift shaft. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#m1)

2) A shaft is the long, thin straight part of a tool, arrow, spear or golf club. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#m2)

3) A shaft of light is a narrow beam of light shining through a gap. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#m3)

4) In machines, a shaft is a rod that turns and passes on movement, like the shaft in a car. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#m4)

5) A shaft can also be one of the two long poles on a cart, between which a horse is harnessed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In stories, people fall down old mine shafts or a shaft of sunlight shines into a dark room. In science and technology lessons, a turning shaft carries power from a motor to wheels. Safety: never go near old mine shafts or open lift shafts.

### examples

- The miners went down the shaft in a metal cage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x1)
- A shaft of sunlight came through the gap in the curtains. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x2)
- The arrow had a wooden shaft and a sharp tip. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x3)
- The lift shaft runs from the basement to the top floor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x4)
- Keep away from old mine shafts; they can be very deep. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x5)
- The motor turns a shaft that spins the wheels. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x6)
- The handle of the hammer is called its shaft. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x7)
- The golf club's shaft bent when he hit the tree. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x8)
- So of course the townspeople, whenever they wanted a horse shod or a shaft mended, went to the mayor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/#x9)

### note

Countable noun: «a shaft, shafts». Shaft can mean a hole (empty) or a rod (solid), so read the sentence to know which. «A shaft of light» is a beam, not a hole. Lift (UK) and elevator (US) shafts are the same thing.

### In the corpora

- [There He broke the fiery shafts of the bow; the shield, and the sword, and the battle.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1293/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «shaft» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shaft/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.