loft

See also: LOFT, Loft, and løft

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.

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

Pronunciation

Noun

loft (countable and uncountable, 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, countable, uncountable) The thickness of a soft object when not under pressure.
    maximum loft
  4. A gallery or raised apartment in a church, hall, etc.
    Hyponyms: rood-loft, organ loft
    a choir loft
  5. (chiefly US) 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 section)‎[1], Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 December 2025:
      Today, with a loft in Manhattan and a condo in Century City, they are the epitome of the bi-coastal couple.
  6. Ellipsis of pigeon 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
  7. (golf) The pitch or slope of the face of a golf club (tending to drive the ball upward).
  8. (cricket) A lofted drive.
  9. (obsolete) A floor or room placed above another.

Derived terms

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[2], archived from the original on 5 November 2011:
      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

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈlʌfd]

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

Declension of loft
neuter
gender 		singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative loft loftet lofter lofterne
genitive lofts loftets lofters lofternes

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse lopt.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɔft]
  • 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

Declension of loft (neuter)
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative loft loftið loft loftin
accusative loft loftið loft loftin
dative lofti loftinu loftum loftunum
genitive lofts loftsins lofta loftanna

Derived terms

Norwegian Bokmål

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

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

Old English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /loft/

Noun

loft f

  1. alternative form of lyft (“air”)

Polish

loft

Etymology

    Borrowed from English loft. Doublet of lift and luft.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈlɔft/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Rhymes: -ɔft
    • Syllabification: loft

    Noun

    loft m inan

    1. loft apartment

    Declension

    Declension of loft
    singular plural
    nominative loft lofty
    genitive loftu loftów
    dative loftowi loftom
    accusative loft lofty
    instrumental loftem loftami
    locative lofcie loftach
    vocative lofcie lofty

    Further reading

    • “loft”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[3] (in Polish)

    Spanish

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈlof/ [ˈlof]
    • Rhymes: -of
    • Syllabification: loft

    Noun

    loft m (plural lofts)

    1. studio apartment; living space that combines multiple rooms into one

    Further reading

    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

    Declension of loft
    nominative genitive
    singular indefinite loft lofts
    definite loftet loftets
    plural indefinite loft lofts
    definite loften loftens

    Derived terms

    See also

    References

    West Frisian

    Etymology

    From Old Frisian luft, from Proto-Germanic *luftuz. Cognate with English lift and Dutch lucht.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /loft/

    Noun

    loft c (plural loften)

    1. sky
    2. group of clouds

    Further reading

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