Meaning & use
shafting
Last updated
a system of connected rotating shafts used to transmit power from an engine to machinery, or, informally, the act of treating someone unfairly or dishonestly.
See it in a sentence
The factory's old shafting system ran the length of the building, powering every loom from a single steam engine.
Workers complained they were getting a shafting when their bonuses were quietly canceled.
A note on using this word
The mechanical sense describes 19th-century factories where a single power source drove multiple machines via overhead shafts and belts; the slang sense is unrelated in origin but far more common today.
Words with a similar meaning
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Another way to use it
2. noun
informal: unfair, dishonest, or exploitative treatment of someone.
He felt he'd gotten a real shafting from his business partner.
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