airshaft

See also: air shaft

English

airshaft (1)

Alternative forms

• air shaft, air-shaft

Etymology

air +‎ shaft

Noun

airshaft (plural airshafts)

1. (architecture) 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.

   Synonyms: air well, ventilation shaft, vent shaft, lightwell

   • 1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter III, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 18:

     There was a warren of big cabins instead, many levels opening onto walkways around a common airshaft.

   • 1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger:

     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.

2. (mining) A passage supplying ventilation into a mine tunnel or other underground facility.
3. (manufacturing) A device used for handling winding reels in the processing of web-fed materials, such as in continuous-process printing presses.

Translations

an opening facilitating air circulation

• Arabic: عَمُود التَّهْوِيَة m (ʕamūd at-tahwiya)
• Catalan: celobert (ca) m, xemeneia d’aire f
• German: Lüftungsschacht (de) m, Lüftungschacht m, Abzugsschacht (de) m, Abzugschacht m
• Hungarian: szellőzőakna (hu), légudvar, lichthóf (hu)
• Italian: presa d'aria f, condotto dell'aria m, pozzo di ventilazione m
• Russian: вентиляцио́нная ша́хта f (ventiljaciónnaja šáxta)
• Spanish: conducto de ventilación m, foso de ventilación m, pozo de ventilación m

Further reading

• lightwell on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• airshaft on Wikipedia.Wikipedia