raft
pronunciation
How to pronounce raft in British English:
UK [rɑːft]
How to pronounce raft in American English:
US [ræft]
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- Noun:
- a flat float (usually made of logs or planks) that can be used for transport or as a platform for swimmers
- (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
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- Verb:
- transport on a raft
- travel by raft in water
- make into a raft
Word Origin
- raft
- raft: [15] The ancestor of raft meant ‘beam, rafter’. This was Old Norse raptr. Not until it got into English, apparently, was it used for a ‘craft made by tying logs together’. (It should not, incidentally, be confused with the mainly American raft ‘large collection, lot’ [19], which is an alteration of Scottish English raff ‘rubbish’ – probable source of English raffish [19]. This too may well be of Scandinavian origin – Swedish has rafs ‘rubbish’.) Rafter [OE] comes from a Germanic source that was probably also responsible for raft.=> raffish, rafter
- raft (n.1)
- "floating platform," late 15c., originally "rafter" (c. 1300), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse raptr "log" (Old Norse -pt- pronounced as -ft-), related to Middle Low German rafter, rachter "rafter" (see rafter).
- raft (n.2)
- "large collection," 1830, variant of raff "heap, large amount," from Middle English raf (compare raffish, riffraff); form and sense associated with raft (n.1).
- raft (v.)
- 1680s, from raft (n.1). Related: Rafted; rafting.
Example
- 1. That has provided an opening for a raft of new entrants .
- 2. Now it is facing a raft of american and colombian lawsuits .
- 3. But most large international lenders face a similar raft of lawsuits and investigations .
- 4. They decided to make it simple . They just drilled four holes in the raft to install beach umbrellas .
- 5. The raft also had a nearly 40-foot-long mast and a 400-square-foot sail .