RAFTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rafter mean? 

• RAFTER (noun)
  The noun RAFTER has 2 senses:

1. one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

2. someone who travels by raft

  Familiarity information: RAFTER used as a noun is rare.

• RAFTER (verb)
  The verb RAFTER has 1 sense:

1. provide (a ceiling) with rafters

  Familiarity information: RAFTER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAFTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

One of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

balk; baulk; rafter

Hypernyms ("rafter" is a kind of...):

beam (long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction)

Derivation:

rafter (provide (a ceiling) with rafters)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who travels by raft

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

rafter; raftman; raftsman

Hypernyms ("rafter" is a kind of...):

traveler; traveller (a person who changes location)

Derivation:

raft (travel by raft in water)

• RAFTER (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provide (a ceiling) with rafters

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "rafter" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Domain category:

architecture (the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their esthetic effect)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

rafter (one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof)

 Context examples 

A carriage-lamp was slung in each corner, and a very large stable-lantern hung from a rafter in the centre.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I daresay it is only a rat scrambling along the rafters of the adjoining schoolroom: it was a barn before I had it repaired and altered, and barns are generally haunted by rats.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

From the heavy wooden rafters which formed the roof there hung rows of hooks which held up sides of bacon, joints of smoked beef, and strings of onions for winter use.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Making this, in turn, fast to the spring-pole attached to the kitchen rafters, so that the hub played upon the woollens in the barrel, he was able, with one hand, thoroughly to pound them.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In the very centre of all these, upon the largest hook of all, there hung a fat little red-faced man with enormous whiskers, kicking madly in the air and clawing at rafters, hams, and all else that was within hand-grasp.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Winter snows, I thought, had drifted through that void arch, winter rains beaten in at those hollow casements; for, amidst the drenched piles of rubbish, spring had cherished vegetation: grass and weed grew here and there between the stones and fallen rafters.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)