toft
Americannoun
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the site of a house and outbuildings.
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a house site and its adjoining arable land.
noun
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a homestead
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an entire holding, consisting of a homestead and the attached arable land
Etymology
Origin of toft
before 1050; Middle English, late Old English < ?
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Each building is called a toft, a Norse-derived word for farmhouse or homestead.
From New York Times • Sep. 18, 2015
Toft, toft, n. a hillock: a messuage with right of common.—ns.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
A toft," says Dr. Whitaker, "is a homestead in a village, so called from the small tufts of maple, elm, ash, and other wood, with which dwelling-houses were anciently overhung.
From View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 by Hallam, Henry
A draft of the toft of the castle and keep of Castle Comb.
From The Natural History of Wiltshire by Aubrey, John
The distinctive Norse names fell, tarn and force do not occur at all, while thorpe and toft, which are as distinctively Danish, are confined almost exclusively to this section.
From Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by Flom, George Tobias
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
