loft

1 of 2

noun

ˈlȯft 

1

: an upper room or floor : attic

2

a

: a gallery in a church or hall

b

: one of the upper floors of a warehouse or business building especially when not partitioned

living in a converted loft

c

: hayloft

3

a

: the backward slant of the face of a golf-club head

b

: the act of lofting

4

: the thickness of a fabric or insulating material (such as goose down)

loftlike

ˈlȯft-ˌlīk 

adjective

loft

2 of 2

verb

lofted; lofting; lofts

transitive verb

1

: to place, house, or store in a loft

2

: to propel through the air or into space

lofted a long hit to center

instruments lofted by a powerful rocket

3

: to lay out a full-sized working drawing of the lines and contours of (such as a ship's hull)

intransitive verb

1

: to propel a ball high into the air

2

: to rise high

Synonyms

Noun

• attic
• cockloft
• garret

Verb

• cast
• catapult
• chuck
• dash
• fire
• fling
• heave
• hurl
• hurtle
• launch
• lob
• peg
• pelt
• pitch
• sling
• throw
• toss

Examples of loft in a Sentence

Noun

The kids' bedroom has a loft.

He rents a converted loft.

Verb

He lofted a home run into the stands.

The explosion lofted dust high into the air.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Art: Aurore Guez The ground floor is entirely open like a loft. —Anouk Sarfati, Architectural Digest, 17 Aug. 2024

The bright, modern, and airy loft juxtaposed the storied building, with huge windows, bright pops of color, and pale wood floors. —Jamie Spain, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Aug. 2024

Verb

Vaya's Dauntless rocket, which is now scheduled to debut in 2026, will be capable of lofting a metric ton of payload mass into low-Earth orbit, roughly comparable in performance to Firefly's Alpha rocket. —Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 19 July 2024

Doppler radar detected debris lofted by the tornadoes, which appeared as blue splotches on weather maps. —Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post, 16 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Old English, air, sky, from Old Norse lopt; akin to Old High German luft air

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1518, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing loft

• choir loft

Kids Definition

loft

1 of 2 noun

ˈlȯft 

1

: an upper room or floor : attic

2

a

: a gallery in a church or hall

organ loft

b

: an upper floor of a warehouse or business building when not partitioned

c

: hayloft

3

: the backward slant of the face of a golf-club head

loft

2 of 2 verb

1

: to place, house, or store in a loft

2

: to strike or throw a ball so that it rises high in the air

lofted a high fly to center field