loft
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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”). More at lift, aloft.
PronunciationEdit
- (General American) IPA(key): /lɔft/, enPR: lôft
- (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA(key): /lɑft/, enPR: lŏft
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /lɒft/, enPR: lŏft
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ɒft
NounEdit
loft (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.
- (textiles) The thickness of a soft object when not under pressure.
- A gallery or raised apartment in a church, hall, etc.
- an organ loft
- (golf) The pitch or slope of the face of a golf club (tending to drive the ball upward).
- (obsolete) A floor or room placed above another.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Acts 10:9:
- Eutychus […] fell down from the third loft.
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
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[1]:
- 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.
TranslationsEdit
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AdjectiveEdit
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 termsEdit
DanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse lopt (“attic, air”). Cognate to luft (“air”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
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
DeclensionEdit
IcelandicEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
loft n (genitive singular lofts, nominative plural loft)
DeclensionEdit
Derived termsEdit
Norwegian BokmålEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
loft n (definite singular loftet, indefinite plural loft, definite plural lofta or loftene)
ReferencesEdit
Norwegian NynorskEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
loft n (definite singular loftet, indefinite plural loft, definite plural lofta)
ReferencesEdit
- “loft” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
PolishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from English loft, from Middle English lofte, from Old English loft, from North Germanic, from Old Norse lopt, from Proto-Germanic *luftuz.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
loft m inan
DeclensionEdit
Further readingEdit
SpanishEdit
NounEdit
loft m (plural lofts)
SwedishEdit
NounEdit
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
DeclensionEdit
Declension of loft | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | loft | loftet | loft | loften |
Genitive | lofts | loftets | lofts | loftens |
Derived termsEdit
- ha tomtar på loftet (“to be crazy”)
See alsoEdit
- vind (“attic”)
ReferencesEdit
West FrisianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Frisian luft.
NounEdit
loft c (plural loften)
Further readingEdit
- “loft”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011