▪ I. ˈshaftment1 Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: 1 sceaftmund, 4 schaftmonde, 5 schafftmon, schaftemonde, schaft-mun, shaftmone, -mon(d, -mount, chaftmonde, 5–6 shafmond, 6 shaft-man, shaftemente, (shafts-man Florio), 7 shaftmont, -men, -met, shafman, (corruptly shafnet), 7, 9 shafment, 9 shaffment, 6–9 shaftment (see also Eng. Dial. Dict.); 8–9 Sc. shathmont.
[OE. sceaftmund (only once), f. sceaft shaft n.2 + mund hand, handbreadth. (Probably sceaft was intended to denote the extended thumb.)]
The distance from the end of the extended thumb to the opposite side of the hand, used as a measure = about 6 inches.
| c 910–c 1060 Pax in Liebermann Gesetze Ags. 390 Ðus feor sceal beon ðæs cinges grið fram his burhᵹeate,..III. mila & .III. furlang, and .III. æcera bræde, and .IX. fota, and .IX. scæftamunda [? read sceaftmunda], and .IX. bere⁓corna. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3843 He schare hyme one the schorte rybbys a schaftmonde large! c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 6658 He hadde a strok a schafftmon long. c 1400 Anturs of Arth. xli, Thro his shild and his shildur a schaft-mun [Douce MS. shaftmone] he share. 1474 Coventry Leet Bk. 399, iij schafmond and a half a-bout and a yerde of lenthe. a 1483 in W. G. Benham Red Paper Bk. Colchester (1902) 19 His fagot of wode shall be a yard of length and iij shaftmonds and an half abowte. a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 49 The Deane of the Chapell hathe all the offerings of wax..when the tapers be consumed into a shaftmount. 1483 Cath. Angl. 57/2 Chaftmonde. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 112 Therfore lette youre bowe haue good byg bend, a shaftemente and .ii. fyngers at the least. 1558 Cranmer's Confut. Verities O iv b, A lytle young prety babe, about a shaftmond long. 1598 Florio, Quattraggio, a certaine rate of cloth that is giuen aboue measure, as we say a shaft man or a handfull. 1620 J. Taylor (Water-P.) Praise Hemp-seed (1623) 13 Once heaue the Lead againe and sound abaff, A shafnet lesse, seauen all. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 18 Fadome by the marke, 3 od and a shaftment left. 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 486 This Scabious hath a thicke whitish stemme next the ground for a shaftmont high. 1647 Hexham i, A Shaftmen, Een mate van een halven voet. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Shafment, is a kinde of measure used in some parts of England, and is the breadth of a mans hand, and the length of the thumb. 1674 Ibid. (ed. 4), Shaftmet, or Shaftment. 1762 [W. Young] Treat. Weights & Meas. 19 A shaftment, which is the length from the bottom of the wrist to the end of the thumb when the hand is extended, is reckoned 6 inches. a 1769 Wee wee man ii. in Child Ballads I. 330/1 His legs were scarce a shathmont's length. 1816 Scott Antiq. viii, Not a step, not a pace, not an inch, not a shathmont, as I may say; the meaning of which word has puzzled many that think themselves antiquaries. |
▪ II. shaftment2 rare.
(ˈʃɑːftmənt, -æ-)
[f. shaft n.2 + -ment. (Perh. suggested by misunderstanding of prec.)]
† a. An arrow. Obs. b. The feathered part of an arrow.
| 1634 Wood New Eng. Prosp. ii. xiii, Let fly their winged shaftments without eyther feare or wit. 1801 T. Roberts Engl. Bowman 293 Shaftment, that part of the arrow occupied by the feathers. 1903 Amer. Anthropologist Jan.–Mar. 60 (Cent. Suppl.) The dice were originally made of canes, being the shaftments of arrows, painted or burned with marks corresponding with those used to designate the arrows of the four world-quarters. |