different between shaft vs knob

English

Etymology

From Middle English schaft, from Old English s?eaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz. Cognate with Dutch schacht, German German Schaft, Swedish skaft.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???ft/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?æft/
• Rhymes: -??ft

Noun

shaft (plural shafts)

1. (obsolete) The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
   • c. 1343-1400,, Geoffrey Chaucer:

     His sleep, his meat, his drink, is him bereft, / That lean he wax, and dry as is a shaft.

   • c. 1515-1568,, Roger Ascham:

     A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele, the feathers, and the head.

2. The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.
3. (by extension) Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.
   • c. 1608-1674,, John Milton:

     And the thunder, / Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage, / Perhaps hath spent his shafts.

   • c. 1752-1821,, Vicesimus Knox:

     Some kinds of literary pursuits […] have been attacked with all the shafts of ridicule.

4. 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.
5. A beam or ray of light.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:

     They were a fine company of old women, and a Dutch painter would have loved to find them there together, where the sun made bright patches on the floor and sent long, quivering shafts of gold through the dusky shade up among the rafters.

6. The main axis of a feather.

7. (lacrosse) The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick.

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

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

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

11. (architecture) Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal.
    • c. 1803-1882,, Ralph Waldo Emerson:

      Bid time and nature gently spare / The shaft we raise to thee.

12. The main cylindrical part of the penis.

13. The chamber of a blast furnace.

Usage notes

In Early Modern English, the shaft referred to the entire body of a long weapon, such that an arrow's "shaft" was composed of its "tip", "stale" or "steal", and "fletching". Palsgrave (circa 1530) glossed the French j[']empenne as "I fether a shafte, I put fethers upon a steale". Over time, the word came to be used in place of the former "stale" and lost its original meaning.

Synonyms

• stale, stail, steal, stele, steel (arrows, spears)
• (main axis of a feather): rachis
• mineshaft (vertical underground passage)

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

shaft (third-person singular simple present shafts, present participle shafting, simple past and past participle shafted)

1. (transitive, slang) To fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:deceive
2. (transitive) To equip with a shaft.
3. (transitive, slang) To fuck; to have sexual intercourse with.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:copulate with

   • 2018 Christian Cooke as Mickey Argyle, "Episode 2", Ordeal by Innocence (written by Sarah Phelps) 23 minutes

     Well at least I can get it up. No wonder Mary's going out of her head. Stuck with you sponging off her and not even a decent shafting for her trouble.

Translations

Anagrams

• Faths, hafts

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English s?eaft (“shaft”).

Noun

shaft

1. Alternative form of schaft (“shaft”)

Etymology 2

From Old English s?eaft (“creation”).

Noun

shaft

1. Alternative form of schaft (“creation”)

English

Etymology

From Middle English knobbe, from Middle Low German knobbe (“knob; knot in wood”). Cognate with Dutch knob, knobbel (“knob”), German Knubbe, Knubbel (“knob”). See also knop.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: n?b, IPA^(key): /n?b/
• (US) enPR: n?b, IPA^(key): /n?b/
• Rhymes: -?b
• Homophone: nob

Noun

knob (plural knobs)

1. A rounded protuberance, especially one arising from a flat surface; a fleshy lump or caruncle.
2. A rounded control switch that can be turned on its axis, designed to be operated by the fingers.
3. A ball-shaped part of a handle, lever, etc., designed to be grabbed by the hand.
4. A rounded ornament on the hilt of an edged weapon; a pommel.
5. A prominent, rounded bump along a mountain ridge.
6. (geography) A prominent rounded hill.
   • 2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p. 144:

     We climbed to the top of Slate Hill, the highest knob in our town, and Ricky gave me a whole talk on how slate formed, how it was and was not shale.

7. (slang, chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast.
8. (vulgar, slang, chiefly Britain) The penis.
9. (vulgar, slang) The head of the penis; the glans.
10. (slang, derogatory, by analogy with above) A contemptible person.
11. (cooking) A dollop, an amount just larger than a spoonful (usually referring to butter).
12. A chunky branch-like piece, especially of a ginger rhizome.
    • 2001, David Joachim, The Clever Cook's Kitchen Handbook

      Place whole, unpeeled knobs of ginger in a zipper-lock freezer bag for up to 3 months. Slice or break off what you need and return the rest to the freezer.

13. A bulb of the garlic plant consisting of multiple cloves.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:penis

Derived terms

• doorknob
• drawknob
• knob-and-tube
• knobhead

Translations

Verb

knob (third-person singular simple present knobs, present participle knobbing, simple past and past participle knobbed)

1. (Britain, slang, vulgar, of a man) To have sex with.

Synonyms

• dick, get up in, schlong; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Anagrams

• Bonk, bonk

Danish

Etymology

From Middle Low German kn?p (“knot”), probably via Old Saxon from a variant of Proto-Germanic *knappô (“knob, lump”). Compare Dutch knoop and Swedish knop.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kno?b/, [k?no??b?]

Noun

knob n or c

1. knot (nautical unit of speed)
2. knot (some specific type of looping of a rope)

Usage notes

In the sense speed unit, it is common gender; the plural indefinite form is knob; no definite forms. In the sense looping of a rope it is neuter gender.

Inflection

Synonyms

• (knot): knude

Further reading

• knob on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da
• Knob (fart) on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “knob”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Middle English

Noun

knob

1. Alternative form of knobbe