Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#LOFTCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#LOFT lofte (“air, sky, upper region, loft”), from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#LOFTCategory:English terms derived from Old English#LOFT loft, (doublet of native Old English lyft) of North GermanicCategory:English terms derived from North Germanic languages#LOFT origin, from Old NorseCategory:English terms derived from Old Norse#LOFT lopt (“upper chamber, attic, region of sky, air”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#LOFT *luftuz (“air, sky”).

Akin to Scots lift (“air; sky; firmament”), Dutch lucht (“air”), German Luft (“air”), Old English lyft (“air”). Doublet of lift and luftCategory:English doublets#LOFT. Related to aloft.

Cognate with Scots loft, laft (“loft”), Irish lochta (“loft”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /lɒft/Category:English 1-syllable words#LOFTCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LOFT, enPR: lŏft

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LOFT
• (General American) IPA^(key): /lɔft/Category:English 1-syllable words#LOFTCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LOFT, enPR: lôft
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /lɑft/Category:English 1-syllable words#LOFTCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LOFT, enPR: lŏft

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LOFT
• Rhymes: -ɒftCategory:Rhymes:English/ɒft#LOFTCategory:Rhymes:English/ɒft/1 syllable#LOFT

Noun

loft (countable and uncountable, plural lofts)Category:English lemmas#LOFTCategory:English nouns#LOFTCategory:English uncountable nouns#LOFTCategory:English countable nouns#LOFTCategory:English countable nouns#LOFTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LOFT, except in derivatives) Air, the air; the sky, the heavens.
2. An attic or similar space (often used for storage) in the roof of a house or other building.
   1. Such an attic used as an atelier.

      an artist's loftCategory:English terms with collocations#LOFT

3. (textilesCategory:en:Textiles#LOFT, countableCategory:English countable nouns#LOFT, uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#LOFT) The thickness of a soft object when not under pressure.

   maximum loftCategory:English terms with collocations#LOFT

4. A gallery or raised apartment in a church, hall, etc.

   Hyponyms: rood-loft, organ loft

   a choir loftCategory:English terms with collocations#LOFT

5. (chiefly USCategory:American English#LOFT) A residential flatCategory:English links with manual fragments#LOFT (apartment) on an upper floor of an apartment building.

   a Manhattan loftCategory:English terms with collocations#LOFT

   • 1989 July 1, Jan Herman, “Sitcom face of Harry Groener also familiar on stage”, in Los Angeles Times‎, Entertainment and Arts:

     Today, with a loft in Manhattan and a condo in Century City, they are the epitome of the bi-coastal couple.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LOFT

6. Ellipsis of pigeon loftCategory:English ellipses#LOFT.
   • 1954 April, “The Why and the Wherefore”, in Railway Magazine, page 292, photo caption:

     Releasing some of the 12,000 racing pigeons that had arrived by special train (in foreground) at Dumfries Station for a race to their home lofts in Lanarkshire and West Lothian

     Category:English terms with quotations#LOFT

7. (golfCategory:en:Golf#LOFT) The pitch or slope of the face of a golf club (tending to drive the ball upward).
8. (cricketCategory:en:Cricket#LOFT) A lofted drive.
9. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LOFT) A floor or room placed above another.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:9:

     Eutychus […] fell down from the third loft.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LOFT

Verb

loft (third-person singular simple present lofts, present participle lofting, simple past and past participle lofted)Category:English lemmas#LOFTCategory:English verbs#LOFTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#LOFT) To propel high into the air.
   • 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LOFT

2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#LOFT) To fly or travel through the air, as though propelled
   • 2004, Wallace Akin, The Forgotten Storm:

     When she saw houses lofting past her window, she ran to the child, who slept on a feather bed and she gathered the coverlet around them both.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LOFT

3. (bowlingCategory:en:Bowling#LOFT) To throw the ball erroneously through the air instead of releasing it on the lane's surface.
4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#LOFT) To furnish with a loft space.
   • 1853, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Two sisters, one under fifteen years of age, have lofted the house, so as to have a room for themselves.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LOFT

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
5. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#LOFT) To raise (a bed) on tall supports so that the space beneath can be used for something else.
   • 2010, Casey Lewis, Knack Dorm Living, page 15:

     Lofting a bed is much harder work than it seems, and pulling a nail out with the back of a hammer is much simpler than using your own nails.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LOFT

Adjective

loft (comparative more loft, superlative most loft)Category:English lemmas#LOFTCategory:English adjectives#LOFTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LOFT, rareCategory:English terms with rare senses#LOFT) Lofty; proud; haughty.
   • 1542, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Epitath on Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder:

     A heart, where dread was never so imprest
     To hide the thought that might the truth advance;
     In neither fortune loft, nor yet represt

     Category:English terms with quotations#LOFT

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Anagrams

• FLOT

Etymology

From Old NorseCategory:Danish terms inherited from Old Norse#LOFTCategory:Danish terms derived from Old Norse#LOFT lopt (“attic, air”). Cognate to luft (“air”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlʌfd]Category:Danish terms with IPA pronunciation#LOFT

Noun

loft n (singular definite loftet, plural indefinite lofter)Category:Danish lemmas#LOFTCategory:Danish nouns#LOFTCategory:Danish entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Danish neuter nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. attic, room immediately below the roof of a building
2. ceiling, structure separating stories in a building
3. (by extension) an upper limit to something

Etymology

From Old NorseCategory:Icelandic terms inherited from Old Norse#LOFTCategory:Icelandic terms derived from Old Norse#LOFT lopt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔft/Category:Icelandic 1-syllable words#LOFTCategory:Icelandic terms with IPA pronunciation#LOFT
• Rhymes: -ɔftCategory:Rhymes:Icelandic/ɔft#LOFTCategory:Rhymes:Icelandic/ɔft/1 syllable#LOFT

Noun

loft n (genitive singular lofts, nominative plural loft)Category:Icelandic lemmas#LOFTCategory:Icelandic nouns#LOFTCategory:Icelandic entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Icelandic neuter nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. air

   Synonym: andrúmsloft

2. sky

   Synonym: himinn

3. loft, attic

   Synonym: háaloft

4. ceiling

Etymology

From Old NorseCategory:Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from Old Norse#LOFT lopt.

Noun

loft n (definite singular loftet, indefinite plural loft, definite plural lofta or loftene)Category:Norwegian Bokmål lemmas#LOFTCategory:Norwegian Bokmål nouns#LOFTCategory:Norwegian Bokmål entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Norwegian Bokmål neuter nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. a loft or attic
2. the ceiling of a room
3. a two-storey medieval building

References

• “loft” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “loft” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Etymology

From Old NorseCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Old Norse#LOFT lopt.

Noun

loft n (definite singular loftet, indefinite plural loft, definite plural lofta)Category:Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas#LOFTCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk nouns#LOFTCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk neuter nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. a loft or attic
2. a two-storey building made in medieval times or in a similar style

References

• “loft” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /loft/Category:Old English terms with IPA pronunciation#LOFT

Noun

loft fCategory:Old English lemmas#LOFTCategory:Old English nouns#LOFTCategory:Old English entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Old English feminine nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. alternative form of lyft (“air”)

Etymology

Borrowed from EnglishCategory:Polish terms borrowed from English#LOFTCategory:Polish terms derived from English#LOFT loft. Doublet of lift and luftCategory:Polish doublets#LOFT.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔft/Category:Polish 1-syllable words#LOFTCategory:Polish terms with IPA pronunciation#LOFT

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Polish terms with audio pronunciation#LOFT
• Rhymes: -ɔftCategory:Rhymes:Polish/ɔft#LOFTCategory:Rhymes:Polish/ɔft/1 syllable#LOFT
• Syllabification: loft

Noun

loft m inanCategory:Polish lemmas#LOFTCategory:Polish nouns#LOFTCategory:Polish entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Polish masculine nouns#LOFTCategory:Polish inanimate nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. loft apartment

Further reading

• loft in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Noun

loft m (plural lofts)Category:Spanish lemmas#LOFTCategory:Spanish nouns#LOFTCategory:Spanish countable nouns#LOFTCategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Spanish masculine nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. loft

Further reading

• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “loft”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Noun

loft nCategory:Swedish lemmas#LOFTCategory:Swedish nouns#LOFTCategory:Swedish entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:Swedish neuter nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. a loft (attic or similar space directly beneath the roof of a building)

   Synonym: vindsutrymme

2. (archaicCategory:Swedish terms with archaic senses#LOFT) the upper floor (upstairs) of a two-story house

   Synonym: övervåning

References

• “loft”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “loft”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “loft”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Etymology

From Old FrisianCategory:West Frisian terms inherited from Old Frisian#LOFTCategory:West Frisian terms derived from Old Frisian#LOFT luft.

Noun

loft c (plural loften)Category:West Frisian lemmas#LOFTCategory:West Frisian nouns#LOFTCategory:West Frisian entries with incorrect language header#LOFTCategory:West Frisian common-gender nouns#LOFTCategory:Pages with entries#LOFTCategory:Pages with 10 entries#LOFT

1. sky
2. group of clouds