loft

English

Etymology

From Middle English lofte (“air, sky, upper region, loft”), from Old English loft, (doublet of native Old English lyft) of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse lopt (“upper chamber, attic, region of sky, air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“air, sky”).

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /lɒft/, enPR: lŏft

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /lɔft/, enPR: lôft
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /lɑft/, enPR: lŏft

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒft

Noun

loft (plural lofts)

1. (obsolete, 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 loft

3. (textiles) The thickness of a soft object when not under pressure.

   maximum loft

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

   an organ loft

5. A residential flat (apartment) on an upper floor of an apartment building.

   a Manhattan 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.

6. (golf) The pitch or slope of the face of a golf club (tending to drive the ball upward).
7. (obsolete) 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.

Derived terms

Related terms

• lift (noun)

Translations

Verb

loft (third-person singular simple present lofts, present participle lofting, simple past and past participle lofted)

1. (transitive) 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.

2. (intransitive) 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.

3. (bowling) To throw the ball erroneously through the air instead of releasing it on the lane's surface.
4. (transitive) 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.

5. (transitive) 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.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

loft (comparative more loft, superlative most loft)

1. (obsolete, rare) 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

Related terms

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse lopt (“attic, air”). Cognate to luft (“air”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

loft n (singular definite loftet, plural indefinite lofter)

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

Declension

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse lopt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔft/
• Rhymes: -ɔft

Noun

loft n (genitive singular lofts, nominative plural loft)

1. air

   Synonym: andrúmsloft

2. sky

   Synonym: himinn

3. loft, attic

   Synonym: háaloft

4. ceiling

Declension

Derived terms

• fara á loft
• taka á loft
• grípa á lofti
• halda á lofti
• liggja í loftinu
• í lausu lofti
• út í loftið
• þungt loft
• andrúmsloft
• háaloft

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

loft

Wikipedia ^no

Etymology

From Old Norse lopt.

Noun

loft n (definite singular loftet, indefinite plural loft, definite plural lofta or loftene)

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).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse lopt.

Noun

loft n (definite singular loftet, indefinite plural loft, definite plural lofta)

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.

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

loft

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from English loft. Doublet of lift and luft.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔft/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔft
• Syllabification: loft

Noun

loft m inan

1. loft apartment

Declension

Further reading

• loft in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Noun

loft m (plural lofts)

1. loft

Swedish

Noun

loft n

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

   Synonym: vindsutrymme

2. (archaic) the upper floor (upstairs) of a two-story house

   Synonym: övervåning

Declension

Derived terms

• ha tomtar på loftet (“to be crazy”)

See also

• vind (“attic”)

References

• loft in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• loft in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• loft in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian luft.

Noun

loft c (plural loften)

1. sky
2. group of clouds

Further reading

• “loft”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011