loft

American  

[lawft, loft] / lɔft, lɒft /

noun

• lofts
  plural

1. a room, storage area, or the like within a sloping roof; attic; garret.

2. a gallery or upper level in a church, hall, etc., designed for a special purpose.

   a choir loft.

3. a hayloft.

4. an upper story of a business building, warehouse, or factory, typically consisting of open, unpartitioned floor area.

5. such an upper story converted or adapted to any of various uses, as quarters for living, studios for artists or dancers, exhibition galleries, or theater space.

6. Also called loft bed. a balcony or platform built over a living area and used especially for sleeping.

7. Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. an attic.

8. Golf.

   1. the slope of the face of the head of a club backward from the vertical, tending to drive the ball upward.

   2. the act of lofting.

   3. a lofting stroke.

9. the resiliency of fabric or yarn, especially wool.

10. the thickness of a fabric or of insulation used in a garment, as a down-filled jacket.

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verb (used with object)

• lofts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• lofted,
  past participle,  past
• lofting
  present participle

1. to hit or throw aloft.

   He lofted a fly ball into center field.

2. Golf.

   1. to slant the face of (a club).

   2. to hit (a golf ball) into the air or over an obstacle.

   3. to clear (an obstacle) in this manner.

3. to store in a loft.

4. Shipbuilding. to form or describe (the lines of a hull) at full size, as in a mold loft; lay off.

5. Archaic. to provide (a house, barn, etc.) with a loft.

verb (used without object)

• lofts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• lofted,
  past participle,  past
• lofting
  present participle

1. to hit or throw something aloft, especially a ball.

2. to go high into the air when hit, as a ball.

loft British  

/ lɒft /

noun

1. the space inside a roof

2. a gallery, esp one for the choir in a church

3. a room over a stable used to store hay

4. an upper storey of a warehouse or factory, esp when converted into living space

5. a raised house or coop in which pigeons are kept

6. sport

   1. (in golf) the angle from the vertical made by the club face to give elevation to a ball

   2. elevation imparted to a ball

   3. a lofting stroke or shot

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verb

1. sport to strike or kick (a ball) high in the air

2. to store or place in a loft

3. to lay out a full-scale working drawing of (the lines of a vessel's hull)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underloft
  noun
• loftless
  adjective
• well-lofted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• lofts
  plural

Participles

• lofting
  present
• lofted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• loft
  simple
• lofts
  simple
• have lofted
  perfect
• has lofted
  perfect
• am lofting
  progressive
• are lofting
  progressive
• is lofting
  progressive
• have been lofting
  perfect progressive
• has been lofting
  perfect progressive

Past

• lofted
  simple
• had lofted
  perfect
• was lofting
  progressive
• were lofting
  progressive
• had been lofting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will loft
  simple
• will have lofted
  perfect
• will be lofting
  progressive
• will have been lofting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of loft

before 1000; Middle English lofte (noun), late Old English loft < Old Norse lopt upper chamber or region, the air, sky. See lift

Explanation

When you loft something, you throw it high into the air, the way a baseball player might loft a ball from the outfield all the way to first base. Any way you propel an object — whether you throw, kick, or slingshot it — if it launches up and across a distance, you loft it. Another kind of loft is the large, open space above a warehouse or shop in which people live or work. Artists are particularly well known for having apartments or studios in lofts. This is closest to the word's original meaning, "an upper chamber," from the Old English loft, which means "the sky."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

loft lofts lofted lofting

Fisher designed a 5,000-square-foot studio and home that combines the aesthetics of a downtown artist’s loft and the comforts of a single-family home in the working-class enclave that still offered inexpensive land.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

His incredible work went largely unreported for nearly 50 years - until his wife found a scrapbook in their loft, which contained names of children he had rescued.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Comprising most of the museum’s 100,000 square feet of exhibition space, it is treated as one great loft, sliced into smaller galleries by nonstructural partitions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Among them was Cameron’s upstairs work loft, where Alix ripped out the carpet before adding dark gray textured walls, wood flooring, custom black shelving, weathered-looking light fixtures, and a large glass table.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

Indeed, it was a tiny walk-in-closet-turned-bedroom, just big enough to hold his loft bed and a narrow desk underneath it.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Near the adventure hub of Mindo, the newly opened Saloya offers treetop lofts, an infinity pool and a fine-dining restaurant.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025

Davis took this approach in the three-story atrium of his Calle del Sierra Residence in Stinson Beach, which is visually connected on all levels, showcasing exposed timber trusses and open lofts reachable via intricate ladders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025

But fear not, Apex isn’t just hanging out in one of Griffin’s lofts, overseeing his nightly buffet of caviar and gold-leafed Pringles.

From Slate ● Dec. 13, 2024

Spray foam insulation has been used to stop heat escaping from roofs, lofts and attics for decades and comes in two forms.

From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2024

It was a warehouse, basically, and not the fancy, romantic sort of warehouse hipsters might one day turn into lofts.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

From October 2024 through January 2025, as bitcoin lofted past $100,000, investors poured an astounding $20.7 billion into this group of ETFs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Rowbottom and Lindsey work side by side from adjoining desks in their lofted home office, a French bulldog named Jammy snoring between them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026

At 1-1, Roberto Carlos' seemingly harmless cross was lofted high into the Hampden Park sky, destined to drop where D and penalty box chalk collides.

From BBC ● May 28, 2026

It was a familiar sight: Caitlin Clark stepped to her left, paused and lofted a right-handed layup.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026

From his top drawer he pulled two pairs of sweat socks rounded into uneven balls, stepped back toward the door, and lofted both pairs of socks toward the open bag.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

His first remains one of the showpiece's all-time great goals, taking the ball on his chest and lofting it over a defender before volleying into the bottom corner.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

Oviedo gave away a poor second goal after 57 minutes, with Raphinha running on to an undercooked back-pass from David Costas and lofting the ball over Oviedo goalkeeper Aaron Escandell.

From Barron's ● Jan. 25, 2026

In the fifth, Hyeseong Kim got his first MLB big fly, lofting a wallscraper to right for career home run No. 1.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025

He good-naturedly consented to try lofting and approaching shots.

From John Henry Smith A Humorous Romance of Outdoor Life by Frederick Upham Adams

Related Words

• apartment
• studio