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rafter

1
[raf-ter, rahf-]
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noun

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)

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

Origin of rafter

1
before 900; Middle English; Old English rǣfter; cognate with Middle Low German rafter, Old Norse raptr. See raft1
Related formsun·raf·tered, adjective

rafter

2
[raf-ter, rahf-]

noun

a person who engages in the sport or pastime of rafting.
a person who travels on a raft, especially to flee a country.

rafter

3
[raf-ter, rahf-]

noun

a flock, especially of turkeys.

Origin of rafter

3
raft2 + -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rafter

pole, strip, bail, timber, bolster, scaffolding, stanchion, prop, trestle, pile, boom, stud, spar, brace, girder, balk, joist, reach, strut, axle

Examples from the Web for rafter

Contemporary Examples of rafter

  • Mule strung the two women, with their consent and help, from a rafter with strategically placed soft ropes.

    The Daily Beast logo
    Europe's Dangerous Sex Craze

    Barbie Latza Nadeau

    September 16, 2011

Historical Examples of rafter

  • As one end was made fast to a rafter, it hung dangling from the window.

  • The end of the rafter is cut at right angles, so the face-board is at an angle.

  • Every pole, every beam, and every rafter of the frame, is all made of hollow bamboo.

    Fil and Filippa

    John Stuart Thomson

  • I'll fix the noose and jump with it from the rafter, then you can look for me!

  • He took another grip on the rafter just as he would have let go.

British Dictionary definitions for rafter

rafter

noun

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

Word Origin for rafter

Old English ræfter; related to Old Saxon rehter, Old Norse raptr, Old High German rāvo; see raft 1
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 rafter
n.

"sloping timber of a roof," Old English ræftras (West Saxon), reftras (Mercian), both plural, related to Old Norse raptr "log," from Proto-Germanic *raf-tra-, from PIE *rap-tro-, from root *rep- "stake, beam."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper