toft

American  

[tawft, toft] / tɔft, tɒft /

noun

British Dialect.

1. the site of a house and outbuildings.

2. a house site and its adjoining arable land.

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toft British  

/ tɒft /

noun

1. a homestead

2. an entire holding, consisting of a homestead and the attached arable land

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Etymology

Origin of toft

before 1050; Middle English, late Old English < ?

Example Sentences

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

And when all was done they went back to the toft before the rock-chamber, where the elder had opened the loads, and had taken meal thence, and was making cakes at the fire.

From The Well at the World's End: a tale by Morris, William

It befell on a fair sunny morning of spring, that Ralph sat alone on the toft by the rock-house, for Ursula had gone down the meadow to disport her and to bathe in the river.

From The Well at the World's End: a tale by Morris, William

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