▪ I. loft, n.
(lɒft, -ɔː-)
Also 2–7 lofte, 5–6 looft, Sc. loyft, 6 loaft, loffte, 7 laught.
[Late OE. loft, a. ON. loft neut., air, sky, upper room (in Icel. written lopt; Sw., Da. loft upper room, garret), cognate with OE. lyft masc., neut., fem.: see lift n.1]
† 1. Air, sky, upper region. Obs.
| a 1000 Hexameron of St. Basil (Norman 1849) 10 Heo ne lið on nanum ðinge ac on lofte heo stynt. a 1175 Cotton Hom. 217 Heo is..loftes leom and all hiscefte ȝimston. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 222 He makeð þe fisses in þe sa, þe fueles on þe lofte. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 35/55 Huy comen fleo oppe in þe loft ouer þe apostle seint Ieme. c 1330 King of Tars 686 Let seche bi lofte and bi grounde, Yif eny Cristene prisoun mighte be founde. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 88 He is a-counted to þe gospel on grounde and on lofte [1377 aloft]. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3719 Two iuste goddis, Lyuond in the lofte with lordships in heuyn. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 41 And ever-drizling raine upon the loft. |
† 2. Phrases.
Obs. a. on, upon (the) loft: (
a)
= aloft in various senses; (
b) in a high voice, loudly.
| a 1100 O.E. Homilies (Napier) in Mod. Lang. Notes (1889) May 278/2 Þæt stænene cweartern stod eall on lofte fram þære eorðan. a 1300 K. Horn 974 Reynild, mi doȝter, Þat sitteþ on þe lofte. c 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 652 And it, that wondir lawch wer ere, Mon lowp on loft in the contrere. c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 3250 Therfore thoue shalt be honged on lofte. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. 619 Þene his lemmane one loft skrilles and skrikes. c 1450 Two Cookery Bks. 78 Couche hem in a faire chargeour, and ley the partrich on loft. c 1470 Golagros & Gaw. 875 Than said he loud vpone loft [etc.]. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 147 Than all thai leuch apon loft, with laitis full mery. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 194 On ane litter, that buir him hie on loft. a 1584 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 362, I luikit vp on loft. |
b. by loft: in height.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 45 And ȝit maken it..Bothe as longe and as large bi loft [1393 aloft] & by grounde. |
c. of loft: from above. Also used for
aloft.
| c 1375 Cursor M. 22143 (Fairf.) Thoner of loft falle sal he gere & trees þrali blomis bere. a 1400–50 Alexander 791* Ledes hym [the horse] forth of þat loge and þen of-lofte lepys. |
d. over loft = aloft.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 6 Midde of the brigge ther was a toure over loft. |
3. a. An upper chamber, an attic; an apartment or chamber in general;
spec. (see
quot. 1593).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 12277–79 In a loft was in þe tun, A child þar kest a-noiþer don, Vte of the loft vnto þe grund. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1096 Ȝe schal lenge in your lofte, & lyȝe in your ese. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2706 Hypermnestra, And at the wyndow lep he fro the lofte. 1489 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1877) I. 119 For the mendin of the Thesauraris houss dure and the loyft that byrnt. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxi. 77 Whan thou were in the highe lofte of thy grete towres thou sawe the see alle troubled. 1568 Grafton Chron. I. 159 While they were there..sodeynly the Ioystes of the loft fayled, and the people fell downe. 1593 Anc. Rites Durham (Surtees ed. 2) 86 The mounckes dyd al dyne together at one table, in a place called y⊇ lofte, w{supc}{suph} was in y⊇ west end of y⊇ fratree aboue y⊇ seller. 1611 Bible 1 Kings xvii. 19 He..caried him vp into a loft, where he abode, and laide him vpon his owne bed. 1756 Wesley Wks. 1872 II. 364, I preached at five in a large loft. 1874 C. Geikie Life in Woods ii. 33 One end of my sister's loft was packed..with part of it [furniture]. |
b. The apartment over a stable, usually appropriated to hay and straw. (
Cf. hay-loft.)
| 1530 Palsgr. 240/2 Lofte for haye or corne, garnier. 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. v. 238 Some kind of loft or hay tallets, as they call them in the west. 1629 S'hertogenbosh 41 There was slain a Burger..as he was a measuring the Priests Corne in the Laught. 1741 in A. Laing Lindores Abbey, etc. xiv. (1876) 137 note, [He] carried off the whole slates, lofts, jests and timber thereof. 1816 Scott Old Mort. v, A wooden bed, placed in a loft half-full of hay. |
c. A pigeon-house. Hence, a flock (of pigeons).
| 1735 J. Moore Columbarium 3 Let your Loft be large enough to contain the Number of Pigeons you intend to keep. 1876 Fulton Bk. Pigeons 53 We cannot advise any one to breed more than twelve pairs of Carriers in any one loft, however large. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 20 Nov. 8/2 A loft of the best Yorkshire racing pigeons was established at Durban some time ago. |
4. A gallery in a church or public room. (
Cf. organ-loft,
rood-loft.)
| 1504 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1900) II. 429 The loftis in the chapel of Strivelin. 1562 Turner Baths 2 a, Certayn loftes shoulde be bylded ryght over som parte of the fyrst or principall bath. 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xli. 92 Ȝe Lords also, that dois frequent The loft in Sanct Geills Kirk. 1666 Pepys Diary 15 Nov., I also to the ball, and with much ado got up to the loft, where with much trouble I could see very well. 1712–30 G. Guthrie Memor. (1900) 71 They provided a good large house..and plenished it very well with Pulpit, lofts and Pews. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis xv. (1885) 132 The two schools had their pews in the loft on each side of the organ. 1893 Sir A. Gordon Earl Aberdeen 191 The minister..turned to the loft in which ‘my Lord’ was seated. |
5. a. A floor or story in a house.
Obs. exc. U.S. ‘one of the upper floors of a warehouse’ (
Cent. Dict.).
| 1526 Tindale Acts xx. 9 A certayne yonge man named Eutichos..fell doune from the thyrde lofte and was taken vp deed. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 476 Ane woman, havand commiseratioun on this Duk, leit meill fall doun throw the loftis of the toure, be quhilkis his life wes certane dayis savit. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 439 The houses are very great, and the least of them with one lofte aboue head, and some of two and of three loftes. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Buckinghamsh. i. 135 Our Roger..finished the ground-room and second loft. |
† b. The deck or half-deck of a ship.
Obs.| c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 120 Go wndyr loft. Ibid. 143 Wallace..On the our loft kest him quhar he stud. |
† c. The ceiling or flooring of a room.
Obs.| 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. vi. 27 All sodainely the bed, where she should lie, By a false trap was let adowne to fall Into a lower roome, and by and by The loft was raysd againe, that no man could it spie. 1603 Owen Pembrokesh. (1891) 78 This perswadeth me to be one of the causes whie in ould buildinges are found so manye vawtes and soe few loftes, for that in these watrye walles the beames in shorte tyme doe rott & soe the loftes decaye. |
d. A place where sails are manufactured;
= sail-loft.
| 1938 T. North Yacht Sails xii. 113 When a new sail leaves the loft it should be perfect. 1959 W. R. Bird These are Maritimes iii. 92 He learned his trade in his father's loft in West Pubnico... There are only two other ‘lofts’ in the Maritimes. 1973 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 3 June 18/3 His personal sails are no better than his customers’. ‘They go through the loft as part of the system.’ |
† 6. A layer, stage, stratum. Also
transf. of the lateral branches of trees at varying heights.
Obs.| 1535 Coverdale 1 Esdras vi. 25 With a lofte of tymbre of the same countre, yee with a new loft. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 81 b, The Elephant espying him sitting on the loft of a tree, runneth [etc.]. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 536 Let them climb vp higher to the vpper boughs, leauing alwaies vpon euery loft or scaffold..one branch of the old hard wood, and another young imp or twig. 1673 Milton Vac. Exerc. 42 And hills of Snow and lofts of piled Thunder. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. ii. 162 We often times see Clouds as in several Stories, Lofts or Scenes, one over another. |
7. Golf.
a. Slope (in the head of the club) backwards from the vertical.
b. The action of ‘lofting’; also, a lofting hit or stroke.
c. fig. Elevation, uplift.
| 1887 W. G. Simpson Golf 159 A much lofted iron is very difficult to use... A medium amount of loft is best. 1890 Hutchinson Golf (Badm. Libr.) 200 For short approaches, there are weighty authorities who assert that the distances are most easily controlled by loft and spin. 1925 Brit. Weekly 12 Nov. 159/2 We need more loft in our thinking than our fathers had. |
8. attrib. and
Comb., as (sense 3)
loft-floor,
loft-room,
loft-window;
loft-bombing (see
quot. 1956);
loft-dried a.| 1956 Time 24 Sept. 36 Its [sc. a low-flying fighter-bomber's] bombing can be made extremely accurate, but if it uses any ordinary bombing system, such as dive-bombing, it is apt to be vaporized by the fireball springing up under its tail. The best way to avoid this misadventure is ‘*loft-bombing’, which uses the speed of the airplane to make the bomb behave like an artillery shell. Ibid., The main advantage of loft-bombing..is not the range of the bomb, but the time that it spends in the air while the airplane is making its get-away. 1960 Aeroplane XCIX. 352/2 The first L.A.B.S. manœuvre was complete by an A3D, in which loft bombing had been pioneered by Cmdr. H. F. Lang. |
| 1888 Cross & Bevan Paper-making 145 They are then sized, if required, by dipping them into a solution of gelatine: again slightly pressed, and hung up on lines or poles to dry. Such paper is called *loft-dried. |
| 1419 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 147 In grundwallyng et emend. unius *loftflore et alios defectus. |
| 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxxi, A bed in the wholesome *loft-room by the stable. |
| a 1600 in Evergreen (1761) I. 191 The Ladys lukit frae their *loft Windows, God bring our Men weil back again. |
▸
loft conversion n. (a) chiefly
N. Amer. the conversion and partitioning of (the top floor of) an industrial building or warehouse into commercial or (more usually) residential space; a residential apartment created in this way;
(b) chiefly
Brit. the adaptation of an attic into a living space,
esp. a bedroom.
| 1960 N.Y. Times 28 Oct. 51/1 *Loft Conversion Planned... The building, which is occupied largely by furniture manufacturers, will be converted into showrooms for the decorator trade. 1968 Times 10 Aug. 23/5 (advt.) Loft conversions, home extensions and conservatories. Tailor made to suit your home. 1977 N.Y. Times 19 Aug. b4/3 Extension of the loft-conversion privileges of SoHo district south of Greenwich village to boroughs other than Manhattan. 1991 HomeFlair Mar.–Apr. 37/1 (caption) Independent teenagers can have their own bedsits with a loft conversion. 2005 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 29 Apr. a1 Reinvigorating old Edmonton structures, including..several loft conversions in the warehouse district. |
▪ II. † loft, a. Obs. rare.
[app. deduced from aloft, as live a. from alive.] Raised aloft, elated, elevated.
The first
quot. may belong to
lofty a., of which it would then be the earliest example.
| 14.. Audelay Poems (MS. Douce 302) lf. 29/2 Semele to se, o bold corage, Louele & lofte of his lenage. 1542 Surrey Death Sir T. Wyatt 27 in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 29 In neyther fortune loft, nor yet represt. 1557 Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 235 Absence my frende workes wonders oft. Now bringes full low that lay full loft. |
| Comb. 1590 R. W. 3 Lds. & Ladies Lond. G 2 b, Downe with your point, no loft borne Lances here By any stranger be he foe or friend. |
▪ III. loft, v. (
lɒft,
-ɔː-)
[f. loft n.] † 1. trans. To insert a layer of planks in (a building) so as to separate the lofts or stories; to ceil or floor. Also, to furnish with a loft or upper story.
Obs.| 1563 Stanford Chwardens' Acc. in Antiquary XVII. 169/1 For Loftyng the Toure & laying the plankes beneyth. 1598 Stow Surv. xxx. (1603) 277 It is now lofted through, and made a store house for clothes. a 1615 Brieue Cron. Erlis Ross (1850) 20 He caused to joist and loft the chamber. 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 43 The largest..coy-house I have seen, lofted overhead to lay corn. 1646 Virginia Stat. (1823) I. 337 That they [houses] be lofted with sawne boardes and made with convenient partitions. |
| transf. 1601 Bp. W. Barlow Eagle & Body (1609) B ij b, See how many Eagles haue lofted their Ayries..with the gobbets and morsels pluckt and carried from those Bodies. |
2. To store (goods or produce) in a loft.
rare.| 1518 Waterf. Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 326 No freman..shall house, loft, nor seller ony straunge marchant goods. 1785 Washington Notes Writings 1891 XII. 229 The remainder of the Crop which was measured and lofted must be accted. for by the Overseer. 1951 E. Sewell in Duckett's Reg. July 105 Blenheims will keep till Christmas, if lofted cool and dry. |
3. a. Golf, etc. To hit (a ball) into the air or strike it so as to lift it over an obstacle. Also, to hit the ball over (an obstacle).
| 1857 H. B. Farnie Golfer's Manual in Golfiana Misc. (1887) 173 The player should practise lofting his ball directly into the hole. 1881 Forgan Golfer's Handbk. 30 You may boldly take your Light Iron and try to ‘loft’ your ball over the other, and so drop or roll into the hole. 1887 W. G. Simpson Golf 138 If there is a high face to loft. Ibid. 151 If taken..too clean, it [the lofted iron] will skim it a hundred yards with the force that would have lofted it fifty. 1927 [see infielder 2]. 1950 W. Hammond Cricketers' School facing p. 96 W. Hammond hits a 6; position correct for lofting the ball over mid-on. 1963 Times 8 June 4/2 Soon afterwards Hunte lofted Allen over mid-off for four, before Allen for the second time in the day, had the last word with a batsman trying to attack him. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 18/6 Rookie Paul McKay lofted the final Hamilton punt, a high 47-yard spiral. 1972 J. Mosedale Football vi. 91 Tittle lofted the ball..over the heads of the other players. 1974 News & Reporter (Chester, S. Carolina) 22 Apr. 10-A/6 Guy Meadow lofted a sacrifice fly and Clayton, up for the second time in the inning, singled again. |
| absol. 1887 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 697 You may loft in the sand and be little the worse. 1890 Hutchinson Golf (Badm. Libr.) 243 He takes the light iron into his hand..to loft over..that sluggish little burn. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1883 J. Martine Reminisc. Haddington 120 He [sc. a goat]..thought nothing of pouting and ‘lafting’ folk. 1902 Barrie Little White Bird xxiv. 282 We had lofted him out of the story, and did very well without him. 1948 G. H. Johnston Death takes Small Bites v. 110 Her eyes, bright with strain, lofted above the murals to the great range behind the town. 1952 [see day-beam s.v. day n. 23 a, b]. 1960 L. P. Gartner Jewish Immigrant ix. 251 The banner of the Hebrew national..renaissance was lofted. 1971 D. Meiring Wall of Glass vii. 57 He would..loft his bag up the hotel stairs himself..instead of handing it to the orderly. |
4. To keep (pigeons) in a ‘loft’ or flock.
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 25 Oct. 5/1 They [pigeons] could be ‘lofted’ in Whitehall or in Pall-mall. |
Hence
ˈlofter Golf, a lofting-iron.
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 15 Mar. 3/1 A ridge of snow..necessitated in many cases the use of a ‘lofter’ instead of the regulation ‘putter’. |