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raft

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Raft and رفت

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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An inflatable life raft
A wooden raft

Late Middle English, of North Germanic origin, from West Old Norse raptr, from Proto-Germanic *raf-tra-, from Proto-Indo-European *rap-tro-, from *rep- (“stake, beam”).[1] See also Norwegian raft (“beam, rafter”), Danish raft (“thin pole”). Compare also Albanian trap (“raft, ferry”).

Noun

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raft (plural rafts)

  1. A flat-bottomed craft able to float and drift on water, used for transport or as a waterborne platform.
    They floated down the river on an inflatable raft
  2. (by extension) Any flattish thing, usually wooden, used in a similar fashion.
    • 1934 February, G. W. Tripp, “How Nature Harasses the Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 79:
      When George Stephenson built the Liverpool & Manchester Railway he encountered the same difficulty at Chat Moss and solved the problem by constructing a kind of raft made of brushwood that more or less floated on the surface of the bog. On this he placed as much firm soil as his raft could carry, when the operation was repeated, the first raft being thereby sunk with its load of solid earth, which was not displaced.
    • 2016 February 2, Kate Winslet et al., Jimmy Kimmel Live!‎[1]:
      Even though in a way you let him freeze to death in the water, because the way I see it...
      I agree. Y'know, I think he actually could have fitted on that bit of door.
      There was plenty of room on the raft.
      I know. I know, I know.
  3. (collective) A thick crowd of aquatic birds, particularly a group floating on the surface of the water.
    • 2010, John Roome, A Persistent Passage, page 140:
      Pelicans, bills stuck forward, would gather in small rafts to move along in comical formation, before diving in unison […]
    • 2025, Eduard Drost, Birds on the Brink: South Africa’s Threatened Bird Species and Those Working to Save Them‎[2], Penguin Random House South Africa:
      Occasionally, there was a large black raft of birds far out at sea.
    • 2010, Andy Gibb, The Honeyeaters' Tree‎[3], page 32:
      Margaret River itself, although it seems to be Scott River by Prevelly, flows into the Indian Ocean and creates a sandbank, where sat a raft of terns and gulls.
    1. (collective, by extension) A group of aquatic mammals, especially otters and especially when visible on the surface of the water.
      • 2019, Jennifer McCartney, The Little Book of Otter Philosophy‎[4], HarperCollins Publishers:
        A raft of otters at rest in the river.
      • 1852 May, H. Milnor Knapp, “The Master's Mate's Yarn”, in Graham's Magazine‎[5], page 166:
        Two score and more of young, able-bodied men they were, to be sure, strong enough, I dare say, to tow a raft of whales alongside in any latitude.
      • 2015, Kenneth J. Panton, Historical Dictionary of the British Empire‎[6], Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, page 497:
        News of Smith's discovery of the South Shetland Islands, and of the rafts of seals along their shores, spread quickly.
      • 1979, Jane H. Bailey, Sea Otter‎[7], El Moro Publications:
        a raft of otters was feeding at the depth of three hundred feet (50 fathoms)
      • 1999 April, J. Michael Hemsley, Kathleen C. O'Neil and LTJG Lee H. Allison, USCG, “Evicting Sea Lions”, in Mariners Weather Log‎[8], U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Data and Information Service, page 25:
        A raft of sea lions playing "king of the buoy".
    2. (collective) A group of alligators or crocodiles, especially when floating in water with their backs visible above the surface.
      Synonym: congregation
      • 2010, Esther Friesner, Sphinx's Queen‎[9], Random House Children's Books:
        She even pointed out a bank where a raft of crocodiles lay dozing, baking their scaly backs in the sun.
      • 1872 October 4, S. Compton Smith, “An Alligator Story”, in The American Scrap Book and Magazine of United States Literature‎[10], volume 2, page 379:
        navigation was obstructed by a raft of alligators
      • 1921 October, Frank M. Chapman, “Over the Andes to Bogota”, in The National Geographic Magazine, page 373:
        There are monkeys, sloths, macaws, parrots, pigeons, toucans, and many other wood-loving creatures; herons, screamers, jacanas, and jabiru storks in the marshes, capybaras on the shores, and rafts of crocodiles on the playas.
  4. (US) A collection of logs, fallen trees, etc. which obstructs navigation in a river.
  5. (US, slang, when ordering food) A slice of toast.
  6. A square array of sensors forming part of a large telescope.
  7. (cooking) A mass of congealed solids that forms on a consommé because of the protein in the egg white.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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raft (third-person singular simple present rafts, present participle rafting, simple past and past participle rafted)

  1. (transitive) To convey on a raft.
    • 1969, Stella Parker Peterson, “Growing Pains”, in It Came in Handy‎[11], Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 83:
      For timber I imported pine logs from Manchuria, rafted them two hundred miles down the Yalu River, three hundred miles over the Yellow Sea, and twenty miles up the Tatung River, where a thirty-five-foot tide lifted the consignment to Pyongyang.
  2. (transitive) To make into a raft.
  3. (intransitive) To travel by raft.
  4. (graphical user interface) To dock (toolbars, etc.) so that they share horizontal or vertical space.
    • 2007, Dinesh Maidasani, Straight to the Point - Visual Basic 2005, page 11:
      The ToolStripContainer provides built-in rafting and docking of ToolStrip, MenuStrip, and StatusStrip controls.
Translations
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References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “raft”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Etymology 2

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Alteration of raff.

Noun

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raft (plural rafts)

  1. A large (but unspecified) number, a lot.
    • 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
      Pomeroy asked me a raft of factual-type questions (how old were you when you began menstruating? did you ever see your parents having intercourse? did you have many friends in high school? how was your relationship with your father?). It seemed he had a written questionnaire & checked off answers as I have them.
    • 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 31:
      Among those arrested was the grand master himself, Jacques de Molay, who found himself facing a raft of charges based on the specious evidence of former knights [...].
    • 2023 October 11, Dafydd Pritchard, “Wales 4-0 Gibraltar”, in BBC Sport‎[12]:
      The goals and entertainment dried up after the break as Wales made a raft of substitutions but, with more meaningful challenges to come, a capacity crowd at the Stok Racecourse appreciated the bigger picture with Croatia on the horizon.
Translations
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Etymology 3

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Verb

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raft

  1. (archaic) simple past and past participle of reave

Anagrams

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Albanian

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Etymology

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From Ottoman Turkish راف (raf), from Arabic رَفّ (raff), contaminated with rrafsh.

Noun

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raft m

  1. shelf
  2. horse's phalera (Old Albanian, attested in Frang Bardhi)

Declension

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Declension of raft
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative raft rafti rafte raftet
accusative raftin
dative rafti raftit rafteve rafteve
ablative raftesh

References

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  • Bufli, G.; Rocchi, L. (2021), “raft”, in A historical-etymological dictionary of Turkisms in Albanian (1555–1954), Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, page 387

Further reading

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  • “raft”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006

Czech

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Etymology

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    Borrowed from English raft.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    raft m inan

    1. raft (inflatable floating craft)

    Declension

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    Declension of raft (hard masculine inanimate)
    singular plural
    nominative raft rafty
    genitive raftu raftů
    dative raftu raftům
    accusative raft rafty
    vocative rafte rafty
    locative raftu raftech
    instrumental raftem rafty

    Romanian

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish راف (raf), from Arabic رَفّ (raff).

    Noun

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    raft n (plural rafturi)

    1. shelf

    Declension

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    singular plural
    indefinite definite indefinite definite
    nominative-accusative raft raftul rafturi rafturile
    genitive-dative raft raftului rafturi rafturilor
    vocative raftule rafturilor
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