aft

[aft, ahft]Nautical, Aeronautics

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR aft ON THESAURUS.COM

adverb

at, close to, or toward the stern or tail: Stow the luggage aft.

adjective

situated toward or at the stern or tail: The aft sail was luffing.

RELATED WORDS

abaft, back, behind

Nearby words

Origin of aft

before 950; Middle English afte, Old English æftan from behind, equivalent to æf- opposite + -t- suffix of uncertain value + -an suffix marking motion from; cognate with Old Frisian efta, Old Saxon, Old High German aftan, Gothic aftana, Old Norse aptan, Greek opís(s)ō behind; not akin to Greek apó off

aft

[aft, ahft]

adverb Scot.

oft.

aft.

afternoon.

A.F.T.

American Federation of Teachers.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for aft

The fore and aft have beautiful decks carved into them, and windows from various rooms too: it looks like a floating Apple device.
The World's Most Beautiful Boat—Yours for Half a Billion Dollars|Tim Teeman|October 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The New York State United Teachers, part of AFT, recently voted to pull its support for Common Core.
The Incredibly Stupid War on the Common Core|Charles Upton Sahm|April 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Aftersupper, aft′ėr-sup-pėr, n. the time between supper and bedtime.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)|Various
The loss of their champion still more disheartened the French, who now gave way fore and aft.
True Blue|W.H.G. Kingston

They gradually become narrower fore and aft, and taper upwards.
The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe|Ernest Young
Fish, forward (that is, for the sailors); sausage, aft (for the members of the expedition).
The North Pole|Robert E. Peary
The divers having gone down reported the ship aground in three distinct places, aft, amidships under the batteries, and forward.
In Eastern Seas|J. J. Smith

British Dictionary definitions for aft

aft

adverb, adjective

mainly nautical towards or at the stern or rearthe aft deck; aft of the engines

Word Origin for aft

C17: perhaps a shortened form of earlier abaft

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for aft

aft

adv.

Old English æftan "from behind, behind, farthest back," from superlative of Old English æf, af, of "away, away from, off" (see of). The Germanic superlative suffix *-ta corresponds to PIE *-to (cf. Greek protos "first," superlative of pro "before"). Now purely nautical.