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fuste

shaft

noun FOOS-teh Rare

Origin: Latin fustis (staff, club)

Also means

substance

Usage Note

Fuste has two main senses: in architecture it is the shaft of a column (the cylindrical body between the base and capital); in figurative Spanish de fuste (of substance/standing) describes a person of importance or merit — un político de fuste. The architectural sense is the more concrete; the figurative phrase is a fixed expression.

Examples

"El fuste de la columna estaba finamente tallado."

Natural Translation

The shaft of the column was finely carved.

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