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loft
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Etymology
From Middle English lofte (“air, sky, upper region, loft”), from Old English loft, (doublet of native Old English lyft) of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse lopt (“upper chamber, attic, region of sky, air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“air, sky”).
Akin to Scots lift (“air; sky; firmament”), Dutch lucht (“air”), German Luft (“air”), Old English lyft (“air”). Doublet of lift and luft. Related to aloft.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /lɒft/, enPR: lŏft
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /lɔft/, enPR: lôft
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /lɑft/, enPR: lŏft
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒft
Noun
loft (countable and uncountable, plural lofts)
- (obsolete, except in derivatives) air, the air; the sky, the heavens.
- An attic or similar space (often used for storage) in the roof of a house or other building.
- Such an attic used as an atelier.
- an artist's loft
- Such an attic used as an atelier.
- (textiles, countable, uncountable) The thickness of a soft object when not under pressure.
- maximum loft
- A gallery or raised apartment in a church, hall, etc.
- an organ loft
- (chiefly US) A residential flat (apartment) on an upper floor of an apartment building.
- a Manhattan loft
- Ellipsis of pigeon loft.
- 1954 April, “The Why and the Wherefore”, in Railway Magazine, page 292, photo caption:
- Releasing some of the 12,000 racing pigeons that had arrived by special train (in foreground) at Dumfries Station for a race to their home lofts in Lanarkshire and West Lothian
- (golf) The pitch or slope of the face of a golf club (tending to drive the ball upward).
- (cricket) A lofted drive.
- (obsolete) A floor or room placed above another.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:9:
- Eutychus […] fell down from the third loft.
Derived terms
Related terms
- lift (noun)
Translations
an attic or similar space
|
the thickness of a soft object when not under pressure
pitch or slope of the face of a golf club
|
Verb
loft (third-person singular simple present lofts, present participle lofting, simple past and past participle lofted)
- (transitive) To propel high into the air.
- 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport:
- Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.
- (intransitive) To fly or travel through the air, as though propelled
- 2004, Wallace Akin, The Forgotten Storm:
- When she saw houses lofting past her window, she ran to the child, who slept on a feather bed and she gathered the coverlet around them both.
- (bowling) To throw the ball erroneously through the air instead of releasing it on the lane's surface.
- (transitive) To furnish with a loft space.
- 1853, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- Two sisters, one under fifteen years of age, have lofted the house, so as to have a room for themselves.
- (transitive) To raise (a bed) on tall supports so that the space beneath can be used for something else.
- 2010, Casey Lewis, Knack Dorm Living, page 15:
- Lofting a bed is much harder work than it seems, and pulling a nail out with the back of a hammer is much simpler than using your own nails.
Derived terms
Translations
to propel high into the air
|
Adjective
loft (comparative more loft, superlative most loft)
- (obsolete, rare) lofty; proud; haughty
- 1542, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Epitath on Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder:
- A heart, where dread was never so imprest
To hide the thought that might the truth advance;
In neither fortune loft, nor yet represt
Related terms
Anagrams
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Danish
Etymology
From Old Norse lopt (“attic, air”). Cognate to luft (“air”).
Pronunciation
Noun
loft n (singular definite loftet, plural indefinite lofter)
- attic, room immediately below the roof of a building
- ceiling, structure separating stories in a building
- (by extension) an upper limit to something
Declension
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Icelandic
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
loft n (genitive singular lofts, nominative plural loft)
Declension
Derived terms
- andrúmsloft
- fara á loft
- grípa á lofti
- halda á lofti
- háaloft
- í lausu lofti
- liggja í loftinu
- taka á loft
- út í loftið
- þungt loft
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
Noun
loft n (definite singular loftet, indefinite plural loft, definite plural lofta or loftene)
References
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
Noun
loft n (definite singular loftet, indefinite plural loft, definite plural lofta)
References
- “loft” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old English
Noun
loft f
- alternative form of lyft (“air”)
Polish
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
loft m inan
Declension
Declension of loft
Further reading
- loft in Polish dictionaries at PWN
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Spanish
Noun
loft m (plural lofts)
Swedish
Noun
loft n
- a loft (attic or similar space directly beneath the roof of a building)
- Synonym: vindsutrymme
- (archaic) the upper floor (upstairs) of a two-story house
- Synonym: övervåning
Declension
Derived terms
- ha tomtar på loftet (“to be crazy”)
See also
- vind (“attic”)
References
West Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian luft.
Noun
loft c (plural loften)
Further reading
- “loft”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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