Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to have sexual intercourse (usu. of a man with a woman).

1966		D.J. Marlowe Vengeance Man (2007) 36: You came because you like getting shafted, puss.
1971		(con. WWII) B. Aldiss Soldier Erect 45: Shafting the girl up against the whitewashed back wall of the bog.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 89: anal intercourse [...] shaft one in the bum (Brit hetero sl).
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 104: His so-called best fuckin mate, shaftin his burd!
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 10: What wus the sheep doin while ee wus shaftin it?

2. (orig. US) to defeat, to defraud, to harm, to treat unfairly.

1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 165: She’s going to have more on her mind than trying to shaft you.
1960		J. Blake letter 14 Dec. in Joint (1972) 167: I think you ever so delicately shafted me on my use of the term ‘purlieu’.
1969		N. Spinrad Bug Jack Barron 21: Isn’t shafting Bennie Howards enough for one night?
1970		Meyer & Ebert Beyond Valley of the Dolls [film script] Here’s your chance to really shaft him.
1975		G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 65: I shafted him when I found out where he was taking me.
1983		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 5: shaft – to mistreat or to give someone an unfair deal.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 110: There’s a type of ex-pat Australian journo who gets off on shafting his old mates back home.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 155: The Beggar [...] he raped us aw that night, sort ay shafted us up oor erses n peyed us oaf.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] There’s a public service element in shafting the shaft-worthy.
1999		Observer Rev. 13 June 1: The same man shafted him over a policy.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Culture 19 Mar. 14: I did feel a bit sorry for Miller, who was shafted by Fuller.
2003		Bug (Aus.) Sept. 🌐 I realise, true league fan, your score card might have Gallop in front for his idiocy in shafting his own judiciary.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] Our man Sinclair shafted us well and truly [...] Gave out victim’s name away.
2017		T. Spicer Good Girl Stripped Bare 35: Our rabbit ears are tuned to the ABC to watch Richard Carleton interview Bob Hawke, hours after he replaced Bill Hayden as federal Labor leader. By ‘replaced’, I mean shafted, skewered, knifed.

3. (US campus) to steal.

1997–2001

Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 shaft v 1. to steal. (‘He shafted my pen.’).

4. to stab.

1999		J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] Left home 8.20 in the morning, got there 8.55 squeezed in the rush hour. Anyone finger her in the tube and I shaft them.
2002		J. Cameron Hell on Hoe Street 177: He wanted my assist lifting some geezer shafted a copper.