raft

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈraft 

1

a

: a flat structure (as of wood) for support or transportation on water

"How shall we cross the river?" asked Dorothy. "That is easily done," replied the Scarecrow. "The Tin Woodman must build us a raft, so we can float to the other side." So the Woodman took his axe and began to chop down small trees to make a raft …

—L. Frank Baum

… has made a living poling a raft on the Suchiate for two decades …

—María Verza and Sonia Pérez

In addition to a gorgeous 400' long sandy beach with a swim raft, there are 44 boat docks which are licensed to individual … homeowners.

—Frank Roche

also : an inflatable flat-bottomed watercraft

Finally, the three astronauts, wearing their isolation garments, clambered out of the spacecraft into a rubber raft.

—Brian Duff

All my fishing gear, which sometimes included an inflatable raft, went into a backpack so that my hands would be free to carry my shotgun.

—Nelson Bryant

b

: a collection of logs or timber fastened together in order to be floated downstream (as to a sawmill)

Soviet loggers commonly float individual logs down rivers to sawmills, rather than lashing them together in rafts.

—A. Kent MacDougall

2

: a floating naturally cohesive mass

rafts of kelp

Home sites and hunting vantage points would have been undercut by the waves, salt meadows would have become angry shallow seas, and bitter salt and rafts of sea ice would have killed the willow brush and rich sedge meadows of the river deltas.

—William W. Fitzburg and Aron Crowell

3

: an aggregation of animals (such as waterfowl) resting on the water

a raft of ducks

raft

2 of 3

verb

rafted; rafting; rafts

transitive verb

1

a

: to transport by means of a raft (see raft entry 1 sense 1a)

Lewis was rafting supplies cross river … when he dumped his raft, soaking his chronometer.

—Fred Haefele

b

: to transport in the form of a raft (see raft entry 1 sense 1b)

… the logs which had been floating in them were swept down the river to the sea before being rafted away to the sawmills.

—D. A. Bathgate

c

: to convey (something, such as pebbles) in floating ice or masses of organic material

… sediment deposits are dominated by rock fragments released by melting ice. Even large rocks are rafted out and then released as the ice melts.

—M. Grant Gross

2

: to travel along or across (a river or other body of water) on a raft

Although the writing is somewhat pedestrian, river rats will enjoy the 27 accounts … of rafting rivers in 11 Western states.

—Tom Miller

3

: to make into a raft

rafted the logs

intransitive verb

: to travel by raft

rafted across moderate rapids

raftable

ˈraf-tə-bəl 

adjective

raftable white water

raft

3 of 3

noun (2)

: a large collection or number

Synonyms

Noun (2)

• abundance
• barrel
• basketful
• boatload
• bucket
• bunch
• bundle
• bushel
• carload
• chunk
• deal
• dozen
• fistful
• gobs
• good deal
• heap
• hundred
• lashings [chiefly British]
• lashins
• loads
• lot
• mass
• mess
• mountain
• much
• multiplicity
• myriad
• oodles
• pack
• passel
• peck
• pile
• plateful
• plenitude
• plentitude
• plenty
• pot
• potful
• profusion
• quantity
• reams
• scads
• sheaf
• shipload
• sight
• slew
• spate
• stack
• store
• ton
• truckload
• volume
• wad
• wealth
• yard

Examples of raft in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

The duo planned to raft down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. —Michael Wells, Kansas City Star, 27 Mar. 2024

Most people rafting Cataract Canyon take out upstream of here — including recreationists and agency staff — and few Lake Powell users make it as far as these upper reaches. —Cassidy Randall, Rolling Stone, 18 Feb. 2024

Raft Idaho is your one-stop shop to find the best rivers to raft in your area. —Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024

This City Just Won Best U.S. Destination for the 11th Year in a Row Travelers can explore the national parks of the Arches and Canyonlands or head to the Colorado River, allowing visitors to explore the rock formations on foot or kayak, paddleboard, or raft their way through the environment. —Charna Flam, Peoplemag, 7 Feb. 2024

National Geographic also recommends road-tripping on Route 66 through New Mexico, catching the total solar eclipse on April 8 at Terrapin Point in Niagara Falls State Park, antiquing in New York's Hudson Valley and rafting through the rapids in West Virginia's New River. —USA TODAY, 30 Jan. 2024

Many of her neighbors, rafted together by war and dictatorship, and imprisoned for the sins of their husbands and fathers, have nowhere to return to. —Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024

The list also said people can support the local Native American community by booking a Colorado River adventure with the Hualapai River Runners which is a white-water rafting company led by Hualapai Tribe river guides. —Dina Kaur, The Arizona Republic, 17 Jan. 2024

White Water Rafting in Canada Whitewater rafting on Nahatlatch River, Canada. —Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 10 Feb. 2024

Noun

That shift set the tone for the confab, triggering a global government-bond selloff that sent yields to the highest levels in months and put pressure on a raft of currencies including the yen, which hit the lowest since 1990 against the dollar. —Enda Curran, Fortune, 19 Apr. 2024

Along with smaller Dillsboro to its west, Sylva attracts outdoor enthusiasts looking to hike in the Smokies and raft or tube down the Tuckasegee River. —Anne Olivia Bauso, Travel + Leisure, 11 Apr. 2024

The wreck led to a raft of safety improvements, among them, it is believed, the dead man’s switch, a fail-safe now found in all kinds of modern machinery. —Joel Khalili, WIRED, 10 Apr. 2024

These are among the raft of announcements expected this week when President Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a state visit on Wednesday, to be followed a day later by a first-ever summit among the leaders of Japan, the United States and the Philippines. —Jeanne Whalen, Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2024

Former professional whitewater raft guide in Colorado and native Arkansan Samuel Ellis joins Rex on this week’s podcast to discuss a variety of outdoor recreational activities available in Central Arkansas and the Little Rock metro. —Rex Nelson, arkansasonline.com, 5 Apr. 2024

Increasingly, the money is tied to a raft of rules to benefit the environment. —Roger Cohen Ivor Prickett, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2024

Butler has won a raft of international honors and been burned in effigy as a witch in Brazil. —Katha Pollitt, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2024

His Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a raft of rules constraining the conduct of financial institutions; his Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department have begun an aggressive antitrust crusade; and his National Labor Relations Board has pursued an unambiguously pro-union agenda. —Jonathan Mahler Edoardo Ballerini Emma Kehlbeck Joel Thibodeau, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English rafte rafter, raft, from Old Norse raptr rafter

Noun (2)

alteration of raff jumble

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Verb

1667, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (2)

1821, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing raft

• life raft

Kids Definition

raft

1 of 3 noun

ˈraft 

: a flat structure (as a group of logs fastened together) for support or transportation on water

raft

2 of 3 verb

: to transport or move on or by means of a raft

raft

3 of 3 noun

: a large amount or number

Etymology

Noun

Middle English rafte "rafter, raft"; of Norse origin

Noun

probably an altered form of earlier raff "jumble"