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Beam vs Shaft - What's the difference?

beam | shaft |

In transitive terms the difference between beam and shaft

is that beam is to furnish or supply with beams; give the appearance of beams to while shaft is to equip with a shaft.

As nouns the difference between beam and shaft

is that beam is any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use while shaft is the entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.

As verbs the difference between beam and shaft

is that beam is to emit beams of light; shine; radiate while shaft is to fuck over; to cause harm to, especially through deceit or treachery.

beam

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Any large piece of timber or iron long in proportion to its thickness, and prepared for use.
  • One of the principal horizontal timbers of a building; one of the transverse members of a ship's frame on which the decks are laid - supported at the sides by knees in wooden ships and by stringers in steel ones.
  • (nautical) The maximum width of a vessel
    • This ship has more beam than that one.
  • The crossbar of a mechanical balance, from the ends of which the scales are suspended.
  • *(rfdate) (Alexander Pope)
    • The doubtful beam long nods from side to side.
  • The principal stem of the antler of a deer.
  • (literary) The pole of a carriage.(rfc-sense)
  • *
  • (textiles) A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving and the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven.
  • The straight part or shank of an anchor.
  • The central bar of a plow, to which the handles and colter are secured, and to the end of which are attached the oxen or horses that draw it.
  • In steam engines, a heavy iron lever having an oscillating motion on a central axis, one end of which is connected with the piston rod from which it receives motion, and the other with the crank of the wheel shaft.
  • A ray or collection of approximatelyly parallel rays emitted from the sun or other luminous body
    • a beam of light
    a beam of energy
  • * (rfdate) Shakespeare
    • How far that little candle throws his beams !
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
    • , date=September 22 , author=Nick Collins , title=Speed of light 'broken' by scientists , work=Daily Telegraph citation , page= , passage=A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sassoin Italy, 730km (500 miles) away, where they were picked up by giant detectors. }}
  • (figuratively) A ray; a gleam
    • a beam of hope, or of comfort
  • * (rfdate) Keble
    • Mercy with her genial beam .
  • One of the long feathers in the wing of a hawk.
  • (music) A horizontal bar which connects the stems of two or more notes to group them and to indicate metric value.
  • An elevated rectangular dirt pile used to cheaply build an elevated portion of a railway.

    • Synonyms

    * (nautical) breadth * (heavy iron lever) working beam, walking beam * (sense, hawk's feather) beam feather * see also

    Hyponyms

    * (textiles) fore beam, back beam

    Derived terms

    (Derived terms) * abeam * balance beam * beam reach * beam splitter * beam-ends * beamer * beamish * beamline * beamy * bond beam * crossbeam * moonbeam * sunbeam * broad across the beam * broad in the beam * chemical beam epitaxy * high-beam * laser beam * molecular beam epitaxy * particle beam * tractor beam

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (ambitransitive) To emit beams of light; shine; radiate.
    • to beam forth light
  • (figuratively) To smile broadly or especially cheerfully.
  • To furnish or supply with beams; give the appearance of beams to.
  • (science fiction) To transmit matter or information via a high-tech wireless mechanism.
    • Beam me up, Scotty; there's no intelligent life down here.
  • (currying) To stretch on a beam, as a hide.
  • (weaving) To put on a beam, as a chain or web.
  • (music) To connect (musical notes) with a beam, or thick line, in music notation.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    shaft

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (lb) The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
  • * , (Geoffrey Chaucer):
    • His sleep, his meat, his drink, is him bereft, /
  • * , (Roger Ascham):
    • A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele, the feathers, and the head.
  • The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.
  • *
    • Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft .
  • (lb) Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.
  • * , (John Milton):
    • And the thunder, / Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage, / Perhaps
  • * , (Vicesimus Knox):
    • Some kinds of literary pursuitshave been attacked with all the shafts of ridicule.
  • 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.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}
  • A beam or ray of light.
  • * 1912 , (Willa Cather), :
    • 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.
  • The main axis of a feather.
  • (lb) The long narrow body of a lacrosse stick.
  • A long, narrow passage sunk into the earth, either natural or for artificial.
  • A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator; a liftshaft.
  • A ventilation or heating conduit; an air duct.
  • (lb) Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pediment.
  • * , (Ralph Waldo Emerson):
    • Bid time and nature gently spare /
  • The main cylindrical part of the penis.
  • 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". empenne as "I [[feather, 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 ) * mineshaft (vertical underground passage )

    Derived terms

    (der top) * to give someone the shaft * to get the shaft (der bottom)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (slang) 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.
  • (slang) To fuck; to have sexual intercourse with.
    • Turns out my roommate was shafting my girlfriend.

    Anagrams

    * English transitive verbs