Capable of being pressed together or forced into a
narrower compass, as an elastic or spongy substance.
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 ...