rafter

¹

[raf-ter, rahf-]

noun

1. a flock, especially of turkeys.

rafter

²

[raf-ter, rahf-]

noun

1. a person who engages in the sport or pastime of rafting.

2. a person who travels on a raft, especially to flee a country.

rafter

³

[raf-ter, rahf-]

noun

1. any of a series of timbers or the like, usually having a pronounced slope, for supporting the sheathing and covering of a roof.

verb (used with object)

1. British Dialect.,  to plow (a field) so that the soil of a furrow is pushed over onto an unplowed adjacent strip.

rafter

/ ˈrɑːftə /

noun

1. any one of a set of sloping beams that form the framework of a roof

Other Word Forms

• raftered adjective
• unraftered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of rafter¹

raft ² + -er ¹

Origin of rafter²

First recorded in 1740–45; raft ¹ ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Origin of rafter³

First recorded before 900; Middle English rafter, raftre, ræfter “beam, pole, rafter,” Old English ræfter; cognate with Middle Dutch rachter, rafter “plank, beam,” Middle Low German rafter, rachter, Old Norse raptr “log” (in plural, “rafters”); See raft ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of rafter¹

Old English ræfter ; related to Old Saxon rehter , Old Norse raptr , Old High German rāvo ; see _raft ¹

Example Sentences

“It may be a lost bird caught in the rafters,” Penelope said, although she too feared something worse.

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As the rafters rocked, the pints spilled and a joyful giddiness filled the Allianz Stadium bowl, it felt impossible that this team would follow the same trajectory.

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The nearly century-old theater is stuffed to the rafters, quite literally, with set pieces, which hang from ropes and pulleys attached to the fly loft above the stage and wings.

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Some include textured shakes and shingles, or especially wide rafters, giving them the nickname “airplane bungalows.”

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He, his parents and his five brothers and sisters slept in hammocks crisscrossed from the rafters.

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Related Words

• beam