RAFT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Raft

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/ræft/ Listen

noun

Raft n.

A collection of logs, boards, pieces of timber, or the like, fastened together, either for their own collective conveyance on the water, or to serve as a support in conveying other things; a float.

A collection of logs, fallen trees, etc. (such as is formed in some Western rivers of the United States), which obstructs navigation. (U.S.)

A large collection of people or things taken indiscriminately. (Slang, U. S.) "A whole raft of folks."

Raft bridge.

(a)

A bridge whose points of support are rafts.

(b)

A bridge that consists of floating timbers fastened together.

Raft duck. (Zool.)

(a)

The bluebill, or greater scaup duck; called also flock duck. See Scaup.

(b)

The redhead.

Raft port (Naut.), a large, square port in a vessel's side for loading or unloading timber or other bulky articles; a timber or lumber port.

verb

Raft v. t. (past & past part. rafted; pres. part. rafting) To transport on a raft, or in the form of a raft; to make into a raft; as, to raft timber.

Raft v. obs. Imp. & p. p. of Reave.

See images of 'Raft'

Etymology of 'Raft'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Raft" Quotes from Famous Books

... from fifteen to eighteen men each. The pickled and dried roe of this fish is shipped to Wilmington and to Cincinnati. Wild-fowls abound, and the shooting is excellent. The fishermen say flocks of ducks seven miles in length have been seen on the waters of Bogue Sound. Canvas-backs are called "raft-ducks" here, and they sell from twelve to twenty cents each. Wild geese bring ...

— Voyage of The Paper Canoe • N. H. Bishop

... restrictions, with severe penalties and powers of search hitherto unknown in the law of the United States. On Lake Champlain, on June 13, 1808, a band of sixty armed men fired upon United States troops, and carried a raft in triumph over the border. A prosecution for treason against one of the men involved was ...

— Formation of the Union • Albert Bushnell Hart

... and we grind each other for our daily bread with our eyes open. I have got that woman's work. I have struggled hard enough to get it, but, though I did not realize it, I might have known that I had only got on to the raft by pushing some one ...

— Red Pottage • Mary Cholmondeley

... among the eddies, having voyaged, for aught I know, hundreds of miles from the wild upper sources of the river, passing down, down, between lines of forest, and sometimes a rough clearing, till here it floats by cultivated banks, and will soon pass by the village. Sometimes a long raft of boards comes along, requiring the nicest skill in navigating it through the narrow passage left by the mill-dam. Chaises and wagons occasionally go over the road, the riders all giving a passing glance at the dam, or perhaps alighting to examine it more fully, and ...

— Passages From The American Notebooks, Volume 1 • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... floating upon his frail raft, or some spar of his shattered vessel, could not be more at the mercy of wave and wind, than were the two men astride of the capsized canoe. Their situation was indeed desperate. The stroke of a strong sea would be sufficient to swamp their frail embarkation; and, should ...

— The Tiger Hunter • Mayne Reid

More quotes...