Raft"ing, n.
Definition: The business of making or managing rafts.
Raft, obs.
Definition: imp. & p. p. of Reave. Spenser.
Raft, n. Etym: [Originally, a rafter, spar, and fr. Icel. raptr a rafter; akin to Dan. raft, Prov. G. raff a rafter, spar; cf. OHG. rafo, ravo, a beam, rafter, Icel. raf roof. Cf. Rafter, n.]
1. 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.
2. A collection of logs, fallen trees, etc. (such as is formed in some Western rivers of the United States), which obstructs navigation. [U.S.]
3. Etym: [Perhaps akin to raff a heap.]
Definition: A large collection of people or things taken indiscriminately. [Slang, U. S.] "A whole raft of folks." W. D. Howells. Raft bridge. (a) A bridge whose points of support are rafts. (b) A bridge that consists of floating timbers fastened together.
– Raft duck. Etym: [The name alludes to its swimming in dense flocks.] (Zoöl.) (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.
Raft, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rafted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rafting.]
Definition: To transport on a raft, or in the form of a raft; to make into a raft; as, to raft timber.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 September 2024
(noun) a beginning from which an enterprise is launched; “he uses other people’s ideas as a springboard for his own”; “reality provides the jumping-off point for his illusions”; “the point of departure of international comparison cannot be an institution but must be the function it carries out”
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
