Dictionary

airshaft en · NOUN

Etymology

From air + shaft.

Meanings

1. A vertical (or near vertical) opening (shaft) running from a courtyard to the sky, thus allowing air to circulate to high-rise apartments or offices.
   • Howard turned left and walked to the end of the building. Here was a narrow alleyway, which gave on the airshaft at the rear of the building. 1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger:
   • There was a warren of big cabins instead, many levels opening onto walkways around a common airshaft. 1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter III, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 18:
2. A passage supplying ventilation into a mine tunnel or other underground facility.
3. A device used for handling winding reels in the processing of web-fed materials, such as in continuous-process printing presses.

Forms

Synonyms

ventilation shaft · air well · lightwell · vent shaft

Translations (17)

it presa d'aria (an opening facilitating air circulation) · it condotto dell'aria (an opening facilitating air circulation) · hu lichthóf (an opening facilitating air circulation) · ar عَمُود التَّهْوِيَة (an opening facilitating air circulation) · ca celobert (an opening facilitating air circulation) · ru вентиляцио́нная ша́хта (an opening facilitating air circulation) · de Abzugschacht (an opening facilitating air circulation) · es foso de ventilación (an opening facilitating air circulation) · de Lüftungsschacht (an opening facilitating air circulation) · hu szellőzőakna (an opening facilitating air circulation) · de Abzugsschacht (an opening facilitating air circulation) · it pozzo di ventilazione (an opening facilitating air circulation) · es pozo de ventilación (an opening facilitating air circulation) · de Lüftungschacht (an opening facilitating air circulation) · ca xemeneia d’aire (an opening facilitating air circulation) · es conducto de ventilación (an opening facilitating air circulation) · hu légudvar (an opening facilitating air circulation)