Meaning

• The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.

• The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.

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

• (by extension) Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.

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

• A beam or ray of light.

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

• The main axis of a feather.

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

• 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!"

• A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine

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

• A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator; a liftshaft.

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

• A ventilation or heating conduit; an air duct.

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

• Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal.

• The main cylindrical part of the penis.

  "The female labia minora is homologous to the penis shaft skin of males."

• The chamber of a blast furnace.

Meaning

• To fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.

  "Your boss really shafted you by stealing your idea like that."

• To equip with a shaft.

• To fuck; to have sexual intercourse with.

  "Turns out my roommate was shafting my girlfriend."