A 1971 blaxploitation movie directed by Gordon Parks and starring Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, the black private dick who's a sex machine to all the chicks (and who the cops always call when they can't figure something out). Shaft is up against Bumpy Jonas, the leader of a Harlem crime mob. According to the AfroSquad, "Our man Shaft kicks a lot of ass, gets laid a couple of times, and eventually saves the day."

"Hey, where the hell you goin', Shaft?"
"To get laid, where the hell you goin'?"

Shaft (2000) is a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson, and featuring cameos by the directors of both the original Shaft and Shaft (2000), and Richard Roundtree, the original Shaft, who plays Shaft's uncle.

Jackson is clearly an inspired casting job for the film. He plays the Shaft role, in my opinion, better than it was played by Roundtree. He has much more of a badass quality and after all, they say that cat shaft is a bad mother...

The plot revolves around a rich whiteboy who murders a black man but has the money to get off, posting bail and then skipping to Switzerland. Shaft gets kicked out of the precinct for punching the whiteboy while he is in custody and eventually quits when the kid is given bail again after coming back from his European Vacation.

The whiteboy falls in with a drug dealer and Shaft has to work against that deadly combo and a few crooked cops in order to find a waitress who was a witness to the murder.

The thing ends wonderfully and Lynn Thigpin, playing the victim's mother (I think), makes a strong plea for justice. Overall the film is an excellent action flick.

A pool cue's performance can be determined by the Shaft.

The shaft is the upper portion of the cue connected at the butt by the joint that you place on your bridge.
Good shafts are usually made with high grade hard maple and come in different lengths, tapers, and with different tip diameters.

See Anatomy of a pool cue

Shaft (?), n. [OE. shaft, schaft, AS. sceaft; akin to D. schacht, OHG. scaft, G. schaft, Dan. & Sw. skaft handle, haft, Icel. skapt, and probably to L. scapus, Gr. , , a staff. Probably originally, a shaven or smoothed rod. Cf. Scape, Scepter, Shave.]

1.

The slender, smooth stem of an arrow; hence, an arrow.

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

A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele [stale], the feathers, and the head. Ascham.

2.

The long handle of a spear or similar weapon; hence, the weapon itself; (Fig.) anything regarded as a shaft to be thrown or darted; as, shafts of light.

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

Some kinds of literary pursuits . . . have been attacked with all the shafts of ridicule. V. Knox.

3.

That which resembles in some degree the stem or handle of an arrow or a spear; a long, slender part, especially when cylindrical.

Specifically: (a) Bot.

The trunk, stem, or stalk of a plant

. (b) Zool.

The stem or midrib of a feather

. See Illust. of Feather. (c)

The pole, or tongue, of a vehicle; also, a thill

. (d)

The part of a candlestick which supports its branches.

Thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold . . . his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. Ex. xxv. 31.

(e)

The handle or helve of certain tools, instruments, etc., as a hammer, a whip, etc.

(f)

A pole, especially a Maypole

. [Obs.] Stow. (g) Arch.

The body of a column; the cylindrical pillar between the capital and base (see Illust. of Column). Also, the part of a chimney above the roof. Also, the spire of a steeple.

[Obs. or R.] Gwilt. (h)

A column, an obelisk, or other spire-shaped or columnar monument

.

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

(i) Weaving

A rod at the end of a heddle

. (j) Mach.

A solid or hollow cylinder or bar, having one or more journals on which it rests and revolves, and intended to carry one or more wheels or other revolving parts and to transmit power or motion; as, the shaft of a steam engine

. See Illust. of Countershaft.

4. Zool.

A humming bird (Thaumastura cora) having two of the tail feathers next to the middle ones very long in the male; -- called also cora humming bird.

5. [Cf. G. schacht.] Mining

A well-like excavation in the earth, perpendicular or nearly so, made for reaching and raising ore, for raising water, etc.

6.

A long passage for the admission or outlet of air; an air shaft.

7.

The chamber of a blast furnace.

Line shaft Mach., a main shaft of considerable length, in a shop or factory, usually bearing a number of pulleys by which machines are driven, commonly by means of countershafts; -- called also line, or main line. -- Shaft alley Naut., a passage extending from the engine room to the stern, and containing the propeller shaft. -- Shaft furnace Metal., a furnace, in the form of a chimney, which is charged at the top and tapped at the bottom.

 

© Webster 1913.

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