rafter

¹

[ raf-ter, rahf- ]

noun

1. 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)

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

rafter

²

[ raf-ter, rahf- ]

noun

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

rafter

³

[ raf-ter, rahf- ]

noun

1. a flock, especially of turkeys.

rafter

/ ˈrɑːftə /

noun

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

Other Words From

• raf·tered adjective
• un·raf·tered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of rafter¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English rafter, raftre, ræfter “beam, pole, rafter,” Old English ræfter; cognate with Middle Dutch rachter, rafter “plank, beam,” Middle Low German rafter, rachter, Old Norse raptr “log” (in plural, “rafters”); See raft ¹

Origin of rafter²

First recorded in 1740–45; raft ¹( def ) + -er ¹( def )

Origin of rafter³

raft ² + -er ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of rafter¹

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

Example Sentences

At a job in Potomac, Wersick told detectives, he tried to reach for a rafter in an attic but slipped, falling through the ceiling into the main bedroom.

From Washington Post

Every time I go out on the floor, with that name up in the rafters, you have nothing else to do except go out there and compete and play your tail off.

From FiveThirtyEight

Just having that honor and that privilege to play under that jersey up there in the rafters, it’s special.

From FiveThirtyEight

It was a special game because Hardaway was playing in the arena where his father’s jersey hangs from the rafters — the No.

From FiveThirtyEight

He signed a $170 million extension in July 2017 and declared he wanted his jersey hanging in the rafters one day.

From Washington Post

When she has an emotion, it just explodes out of her like one of those rafter-shaking high notes.

From The Daily Beast

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

From The Daily Beast

A man had come to stand beside it, his body screening the light of one of the lamps that hung from a rafter of the ceiling.

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

He stalked to a rafter, ran one huge finger along it, discovered a tiny speck of dust and showed it to Franz.

From Project Gutenberg

The nest of June 28th was attached to a rafter of the front verandah of a bungalow at Lahore.

From Project Gutenberg

With this meeting we leave that Oxford before the Conquest, of which possibly not one stone, or one rafter, remains.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• beam