Dictionary

shadoof en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ʃɑ-/ (General-American)
• /ʃæ-/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ʃəˈduːf/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ʃæ-/ (General-American)
• /ʃəˈduf/ (General-American)
• shə-do͞of (Received-Pronunciation)
• (General-American) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Egyptian Arabic شادوف (šadūf); see further at that entry.

Meanings

1. A device used since ancient times in the Middle East to raise water from a well or other low point, consisting of a pivoted rod with a bucket on one end and a counterweight on the other.
   • The waters intended for irrigating lands situated on the sides of the hills and at the bottom of a valley, are first raised to the top by a balance called deloo, or shadoof. 1825, [Conrad] Malte-Brun, “Part I. A Physical Description of this Country.”, in Universal Geography, or A Description of All the Parts of the World, […], volume IV (Containing the Description of Africa and Adjacent Islands. […]), Boston, Mass.: Wells and Lilly […]; New York, N.Y.: E. Bliss and E. White, →OCLC, book LX (Egypt), page 41:
   • Were there a thousand—or was it five thousand slaves?—cranking the long poles of these shadufs to raise our water? I know as we looked from our boat across that hot shimmering river, I could hear shadufs creaking near and far, and the sun blazed like a sword each time water splashed into a higher sluice. 1983, Norman Mailer, “The Book of the Child”, in Ancient Evenings, Boston, Mass.; Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 120:
   • From this deeper kind of well the water is usually drawn by hand in a leathern bucket not too heavy, sometimes by a windlass, but oftener, where the well is only of moderate depth, by the shadoof, which is the most common and simple of all the machines used in the East for raising water, whether from wells, reservoirs, or rivers. 1845, “WATER”, in John Kitto, editor, A Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature […], volume II, Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, →OCLC, page 940:
   • It was the time of low Nile when all the land is baked like a crust of bread, when the creaking of the shadoofs and the singing croak of the sakkia are heard the night long like untiring crickets with throats of frogs. 1902, Gilbert Parker, “The Man at the Wheel”, in Donovan Pasha and Some People of Egypt, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp, Clark Company, →OCLC, page 154:
   • Now and again you can hear a shrill screeching sound from the bank, produced by sakhiehs and shadoofs, this last being similar to the water-raising "crane" pump we have in the Ukraine. 2020, Igor Kovalevsky, “Nubia along the Nile”, in Anna Aslanyan, transl., A Journey to Inner Africa […], [Amherst, Mass.]: Amherst College Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 73:
   • The Egyptian fellaheen, in many of their ways and customs, reproduce almost exactly their ancient prototypes. They use the same ploughs and the same shadoofs for raising water. 1893 October, C[lement] B[oulton] Roylance Kent, “Life in Modern Egypt”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume CCLXXV, number 1954, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 353:
   • [T]he fields in the vicinity of the river and of the large canals, and some other lands, in which pits are dug for water, are irrigated by means of machines of different kinds. The most common of these machines is the sha′doo′f, which consists of two posts or pillars of wood, or of mud and canes or rushes, about five feet in height, and less than three feet apart, with a horizontal piece of wood extending from top to top, to which is suspended a slender lever, formed of a branch of a tree, having at one end a weight chiefly composed of mud, and at the other, suspended to two long palm-sticks, a vessel in the form of a bowl, made of basket-work, or of a hoop and a piece of woollen stuff or leather: with this vessel, the water is thrown up to the height of about eight feet, into a trough hollowed out for its reception. In the southern parts of Upper Egypt, four or five sha′doo′fs are required, when the river is at the lowest, to raise the water to the level of the fields. 1836, Edward William Lane, “Industry”, in An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, […], volume II, London: Charles Knight and Co, […], →OCLC, page 24:
   • The shadoof can be traced back 5,400 years, or to about 3500 B.C., and the indications are that it was considered an ancient device even at that remote time. It is much like the old-fashioned well sweep, consisting of a pivoted pole, supported on two uprights, at one end of which is suspended a rope or pole with a bucket at the lower end. In using, the bucket is simply dipped into the water and is then raised by pulling down on the opposite side of the pivoted pole. 1914 August, “Crude Egyptian Device for Raising Water”, in H[enry] H[aven] Windsor, editor, Popular Mechanics Magazine, volume 22, number 2, Chicago, Ill.: Popular Mechanics Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 172, column 1:

Forms

Synonyms

picota · sweep · counterpoise-lift · swape · dhenkli

Translations (63)

ru шаду́ф (device to raise water) · ar شَادُوف (device to raise water) · sl šaduf (device to raise water) · mwl ciguonha (device to raise water) · ml ഏത്തം (device to raise water) · az qır (device to raise water) · ca cigonya (device to raise water) · nl sjadoef (device to raise water) · lv vinda (device to raise water) · shu شادوف (device to raise water) · gl cambón (device to raise water) · uk жураве́ль (device to raise water) · de Schwingbaum (device to raise water) · uk ви́тяг (device to raise water) · akk zuruqqu (device to raise water) · fr chadouf (device to raise water) · pl żuraw (device to raise water) · tr seren (device to raise water) · uk звід (device to raise water) · hi ढेंकली (device to raise water) · cv тарасаллӑ пусӑ (device to raise water) · ml ത്ലാവ് (device to raise water) · cmn 桔槔 (device to raise water) · jv sénggot (device to raise water) · grc κηλώνειον (device to raise water) · mk ѓеран (device to raise water) · de Schöpfschwengel (device to raise water) · cv тарасаллӑ ҫӑл (device to raise water) · hu gémeskút (device to raise water) · ext zaqui (device to raise water) · ta பூட்டை (device to raise water) · kn ಏತ (device to raise water) · uk при́стрій з жерди́ною (device to raise water) · fi vinttikaivo (device to raise water) · de Schaduff (device to raise water) · es cigoñal (device to raise water) · arz شادوف (device to raise water) · ta ஏற்றமரம் (device to raise water) · ro cumpănă (device to raise water) · pt picota (device to raise water) · ru жура́вль (device to raise water) · pt gaivota (device to raise water) · pt cegonha (device to raise water) · de Brunnenschwengel (device to raise water) · tr şaduf (device to raise water) · gl bimbastro (device to raise water) · la tollēnō (device to raise water) · nb vippebrønn (device to raise water) · sh đeram (device to raise water) · fa شادوف (device to raise water) · et vinnkaev (device to raise water) · tr tapındırık (device to raise water) · ms syaduf (device to raise water) · akk zaruggu (device to raise water) · ff kiikorwal class ngal (Adamawa) (device to raise water) · fi kaivonvintti (device to raise water) · it shaduf (device to raise water) · sv brunnssvängel (device to raise water) · es cigüeñal (device to raise water) · eu trabukete (device to raise water) · ca poalanca (device to raise water) · grc κήλων (device to raise water) · uk підно́с (device to raise water)

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