a handle, especially of a knife, sword, or dagger.
verb (used with object)
to furnish with a haft or handle; set in a haft.
noun
the handle of an axe, knife, etc
verb
(tr) to provide with a haft
n.
Old English hæft “handle,” related to hæft “fetter,” from Proto-Germanic *haftjom (cf. Old Saxon haft “captured;” Dutch hecht, Old High German hefti, German Heft “handle;” German Haft “arrest”), from PIE *kap- “to grasp” (see capable). To haven other haeftes in hand “have other hafts in hand” was a 14c.-15c. way of saying “have other business to attend to.”