loft

plural lofts

1. countableobsoleteuncountableexcept in derivativesAir, the air; the sky, the heavens.
2. countableuncountableAn attic or similar space (often used for storage) in the roof of a house or other building.
   1. countableuncountableSuch an attic used as an atelier.

      an artist's loft

3. countableuncountablebusinessThe thickness of a soft object when not under pressure.

   maximum loft

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

   a choir loft

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

   a Manhattan loft

   1 more example

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

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

6. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of pigeon loft.

   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

   1954 April, “The Why and the Wherefore”, in Railway Magazine, page 292, photo caption

7. countableuncountablegolfThe pitch or slope of the face of a golf club (tending to drive the ball upward).
8. countableuncountableball gamesA lofted drive.
9. countableobsoleteuncountableA floor or room placed above another.

   Eutychus […] fell down from the third loft.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:9

present singular third person lofts · participle present lofting · participle past lofted · past lofted

1. transitiveTo propel high into the air.

   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.

   2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport

2. intransitiveTo fly or travel through the air, as though propelled

   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.

   2004, Wallace Akin, The Forgotten Storm

3. bowlingTo throw the ball erroneously through the air instead of releasing it on the lane's surface.
4. transitiveTo furnish with a loft space.

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

   1853, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, (Please provide the book title or journal name)

5. transitiveTo raise (a bed) on tall supports so that the space beneath can be used for something else.

   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.

   2010, Casey Lewis, Knack Dorm Living, page 15

comparative more loft · superlative most loft

1. obsoleterareLofty; proud; haughty.

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

   1542, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Epitath on Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder

plural LOFTs

1. nuclear industryloss of fluid test

   Synonyms: loss of fluid test

plural Lofts

1. A surname.