rafter
See also: Rafter
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɹɑːftə(ɹ)/
- (Canada, General American) IPA(key): /ˈɹæftəɹ/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɑːftə(ɹ), -æftə(ɹ)
Etymology 1
From Old English ræfter, of Germanic origin, related to the origin of raft.
Noun
rafter (plural rafters)
- (architecture) One of a series of sloped beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.
- 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:
- […] the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters
-
- (collective) A flock of turkeys.
Derived terms
- packed to the rafters
Translations
one of a series of sloped beams
|
Verb
rafter (third-person singular simple present rafters, present participle raftering, simple past and past participle raftered)
- (transitive) To make (timber, etc.) into rafters.
- (transitive) To furnish (a building) with rafters.
- (UK, agriculture) To plough so as to turn the grass side of each furrow upon an unploughed ridge; to ridge.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for rafter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)
Etymology 2
raft + -er
Noun
rafter (plural rafters)
- A raftsman.
References
Anagrams
- Frater, farter, frater