Quill
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs. A pen made from a feather. Any pen. A sharply pointed, barbed, and easily detached needle-like structure that grows on the skin of a porcupine as a defense against predators.
Example sentence: Think of all that hard work our founding fathers put in - the revolutionizing, the three-fifths compromising, having to write the entire Constitution with a quill - and yet they neglected to include the right to vote.
Shaft
Part of speech: verb
Definition: to equip something with a shaftTo have sexual intercourse with someoneTo engage in a malicious act; to rip off, as in "He got shafted."
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The long narrow body of a spear or arrowA beam or ray of lightAny long thin object, such as the handle of a tool, one of the poles between which an animal is harnessed to a vehicle, or the driveshaft of a motorized vehicle with rear-wheel drive.The main axis of a featherThe long narrow body of a lacrosse stickA long narrow passage sunk into the earth, for mining etc; a mineshaft.A vertical or near-vertical cave passage.A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator; a liftshaft.A ventilation or heating conduit; an air duct.A malicious act, as in “to give someone the shaft”The main narrow part of the penis
Example sentence: In prosperous times, the marginal workers get by. But in tough times, they get the shaft.