"shaft" meaning in Middle English

See shaft in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: From Old English sċeaft (“shaft”). Etymology templates: {{inh|enm|ang|sċeaft|t=shaft}} Old English sċeaft (“shaft”) Head templates: {{head|enm|noun|altform=1}} shaft
  1. alternative form of schaft (“shaft”) Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: schaft (extra: shaft)
    Sense id: en-shaft-enm-noun-SUjqCyfh
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

Etymology: From Old English sċeaft (“creation”). Etymology templates: {{inh|enm|ang|sċeaft|t=creation}} Old English sċeaft (“creation”) Head templates: {{head|enm|noun|altform=1}} shaft
  1. alternative form of schaft (“creation”) Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: schaft (extra: creation)
    Sense id: en-shaft-enm-noun-F3X7tgh8
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2
{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "sċeaft",
        "t": "shaft"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English sċeaft (“shaft”)",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Old English sċeaft (“shaft”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "altform": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "shaft",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "shaft",
          "word": "schaft"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1343-1400, Geoffrey Chaucer",
          "text": "His sleep, his meat, his drink, is him bereft, / That lean he wax, and dry as is a shaft."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of schaft (“shaft”)"
      ],
      "id": "en-shaft-enm-noun-SUjqCyfh",
      "links": [
        [
          "schaft",
          "schaft#Middle_English:_shaft"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "shaft"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "sċeaft",
        "t": "creation"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English sċeaft (“creation”)",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Old English sċeaft (“creation”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "altform": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "shaft",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "creation",
          "word": "schaft"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of schaft (“creation”)"
      ],
      "id": "en-shaft-enm-noun-F3X7tgh8",
      "links": [
        [
          "schaft",
          "schaft#Middle_English:_creation"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "shaft"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English alternative forms",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old English",
    "Middle English terms inherited from Old English",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "sċeaft",
        "t": "shaft"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English sċeaft (“shaft”)",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Old English sċeaft (“shaft”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "altform": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "shaft",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "shaft",
          "word": "schaft"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1343-1400, Geoffrey Chaucer",
          "text": "His sleep, his meat, his drink, is him bereft, / That lean he wax, and dry as is a shaft."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of schaft (“shaft”)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "schaft",
          "schaft#Middle_English:_shaft"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "shaft"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English alternative forms",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old English",
    "Middle English terms inherited from Old English",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "sċeaft",
        "t": "creation"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English sċeaft (“creation”)",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Old English sċeaft (“creation”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "altform": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "shaft",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "creation",
          "word": "schaft"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of schaft (“creation”)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "schaft",
          "schaft#Middle_English:_creation"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "shaft"
}

Download raw JSONL data for shaft meaning in Middle English (1.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Middle English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.