raft

English

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ɹɑːft/
(US) IPA^(key): /ɹæft/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɑːft

Etymology 1

an inflatable life raft

a wooden raft

Late Middle English, of North Germanic origin, from West Old Norse raptr, from Proto-Germanic *raf-tra-, from Proto-Indo-European *rap-tro-, from *rep- (“stake, beam”).[1] See also Norwegian raft (“beam, rafter”), Danish raft (“thin pole”). Compare also Albanian trap (“raft, ferry”).

Noun

raft (plural rafts)

A flat-bottomed craft able to float and drift on water, used for transport or as a waterborne platform.
An inflatable raft. A log raft.
(by extension) Any flattish thing, usually wooden, used in a similar fashion.
- 2016 February 2, Kate Winslet & al., Jimmy Kimmel Live!
  Even though in a way you let him freeze to death in the water, because the way I see it...
  I agree. Y'know, I think he actually could have fitted on that bit of door.
  There was plenty of room on the raft.
  I know. I know, I know.
A thick crowd of seabirds or sea mammals, particularly a group of penguins when in the water.
- 2010, John Roome, A Persistent Passage (page 140)
  Pelicans, bills stuck forward, would gather in small rafts to move along in comical formation, before diving in unison […]
(US) A collection of logs, fallen trees, etc. which obstructs navigation in a river.
(US, slang, when ordering food) A slice of toast.
A square array of sensors forming part of a large telescope.
(cooking) A mass of congealed solids that forms on a consommé because of the protein in the egg white.

Derived terms

life raft

Translations

flat, floating structure

Albanian: trap (sq) m
Arabic: طَوْف‎ m (ṭawf), رَمَث‎ m (ramaṯ)
Armenian: լաստ (hy) (last)
Assamese: ভূৰ (bhur), ভেল (bhel)
Azerbaijani: sal (az)
Bashkir: һал (hal)
Belarusian: плыт m (plyt)
Bengali: ভেলা (bhela)
Bulgarian: сал (bg) m (sal)
Burmese: ဖောင် (my) (hpaung)
Catalan: rai (ca) m
Cebuano: gakit
Chechen: бурам (buram)
Chinese:
Classical Chinese: 槎 (zh) (chá)
Mandarin: 木排 (zh) (mùpái), 筏 (zh) (fá)
Czech: vor (cs) m
Danish: flåde c
Dutch: vlot (nl) n
Esperanto: floso (eo)
Estonian: parv
Faroese: flaki m
Finnish: lautta (fi)
French: radeau (fr) m
Galician: balsa f
Georgian: ტივი (ṭivi)
German: Floß (de) n
Greek: σχεδία (el) f (schedía)
Ancient: σχεδία f (skhedía)
Hebrew: רַפסוֹדָה‎ (he) f (rafsodá)
Higaonon: gakit
Hindi: बेड़ा (hi) m (beṛā)
Hungarian: tutaj (hu)
Icelandic: fleki (is) m
Ido: rafto (io)
Indonesian: rakit (id)
Irish: rafta m
Isnag: xakit
Italian: zattera (it)
Japanese: いかだ (ja) (ikada)
Kamta: ভূৰা (bhura) / ভূরা / bhura (bhura)
Kazakh: сал (sal)
Khmer: ក្បូន (km) (kboon)
Korean: 뗏목 (ko) (ttenmok)
Kyrgyz: сал (ky) (sal)
Lao: ແພ (lo) (phǣ)
Latgalian: sīlejs m
Latin: trabica f, ratis f
Latvian: plosts m
Lithuanian: plaustas m
Macedonian: сплав m (splav)
Malay: rakit (ms)
Manchu: ᠠᡩᠠ (ada)
Mansaka: gakit
Maori: mōkihi, mōkī
Mongolian: сал (mn) (sal)
Navajo: tsin naaʼeeł
Norwegian:
Bokmål: flåte m
Nynorsk: flote m, flåte m
Persian: کرجی‎ (fa) (karaji), کلک‎ (fa) (kalak), بلم‎ (fa) (balam)
Plautdietsch: Plut f
Polish: tratwa (pl) f
Portuguese: balsa (pt) f, jangada (pt) f
Punjabi: ਬੇੜਾ m (beṛā)
Romanian: plută (ro) f
Russian: плот (ru) m (plot)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: спла̑в m
Roman: splȃv (sh) m
Slovak: plť f
Slovene: splav (sl) m
Spanish: balsa (es) f
Swedish: flotte (sv) c
Sylheti: ꠜꠥꠞꠣ (búra)
Tagalog: lamo
Tajik: амад (tg) (amad), сал (sal)
Telugu: తెప్ప (te) (teppa)
Thai: แพ (th) (pɛɛ)
Tocharian B: plewe
Turkish: sal (tr)
Turkmen: sal
Ukrainian: пліт (uk) m (plit)
Uzbek: sol (uz)
Vietnamese: bè (vi)
Volapük: floted (vo), boadafloted
Western Bukidnon Manobo: gakit
Yiddish: פּליט‎ (plit)

inflatable floating craft

Arabic: قَارِب مَطَّاطِيّ‎ m (qārib maṭṭāṭiyy)
Bashkir: һал (hal)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 橡皮艇 (zh) (xiàngpítǐng)
Czech: raft (cs) m
Dutch: rubberboot (nl)
Finnish: lautta (fi), kumilautta (fi)
French: canot pneumatique m
Galician: balsa f
German: Schlauchboot (de) n
Hebrew: רַפְסוֹדָה‎ (he) f (rafsodah)
Ido: rafto (io)
Italian: gommone (it) m
Japanese: ラフト (rafuto)
Polish: tratwa (pl) f
Russian: плот (ru) m (plot), рафт (ru) m (raft)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: гумѐња̄к
Latin: gumènjāk (sh) m
Swedish: flotte (sv) c

Verb

raft (third-person singular simple present rafts, present participle rafting, simple past and past participle rafted)

(transitive) To convey on a raft.
(transitive) To make into a raft.
(intransitive) To travel by raft.
(graphical user interface) To dock (toolbars, etc.) so that they share horizontal or vertical space.
- 2007, Dinesh Maidasani, Straight to the Point - Visual Basic 2005 (page 11)
  The ToolStripContainer provides built-in rafting and docking of ToolStrip, MenuStrip, and StatusStrip controls.

Translations

to convey on a raft

Finnish: kuljettaa lautalla
Maori: mōkihi, mōkī

to make into a raft

Finnish: tehdä lautta

to travel by raft

Finnish: kulkea lautalla

Related terms

rafter
whitewater rafting

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “raft”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Etymology 2

Alteration of raff.

Noun

raft (plural rafts)

A large (but unspecified) number, a lot.
- 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge 2008, p. 31:
  Among those arrested was the grand master himself, Jacques de Molay, who found himself facing a raft of charges based on the specious evidence of former knights [...].

Translations

large but unspecified number of something

Bulgarian: куп (bg) m (kup)
Catalan: multitud (ca) f
Finnish: roppakaupalla (fi)
French: multitude (fr) f, masse (fr) f
Galician: multitude (gl) f
Italian: moltitudine (it) f
Portuguese: multidão (pt) f
Russian: у́йма (ru) f (újma), ку́ча (ru) f (kúča), мно́жество (ru) n (mnóžestvo)
Spanish: multitud (es) f

Verb

raft

(archaic) simple past tense and past participle of reave
- 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “August. Aegloga Octaua.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], OCLC 606515406; reprinted as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender […], London: John C. Nimmo, […], 1890, OCLC 890162479:
  Colin Clout raft me of his brother

Anagrams

FRTA, RTFA, TRAF, fart, frat, traf

Albanian

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish راف‎ (raf), from Arabic رَفّ‎ (raff), contaminated with rrafsh.

Noun

raft m

shelf
horse's phalera (Old Albanian, attested in Frang Bardhi)

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English raft.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /raft/

Noun

raft m

raft (inflatable floating craft)

Declension

Declension of raft

	singular	plural
nominative	raft	rafty
genitive	raftu	raftů
dative	raftu	raftům
accusative	raft	rafty
vocative	rafte	rafty
locative	raftu	raftech
instrumental	raftem	rafty

Romanian

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish راف‎ (raf), from Arabic رَفّ‎ (raff).

Noun

raft n (plural rafturi)

shelf

Declension

Declension of raft

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) raft	raftul	(niște) rafturi	rafturile
genitive/dative	(unui) raft	raftului	(unor) rafturi	rafturilor
vocative	raftule		rafturilor

[1] Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “raft”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.