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ALOFT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In the higher atmosphere above the earth
Example:
weather conditions aloft are fine
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
At or to great height; high up in or into the air
Example:
dust is whirled aloft
Classified under:
Sense 3
Meaning:
Upward
Example:
the good news sent her spirits aloft
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 4
Meaning:
At or on or to the masthead or upper rigging of a ship
Example:
climbed aloft to unfurl the sail
Classified under:
Adverbs
Context examples:
Steering I picked up easily, but running aloft to the crosstrees and swinging my whole weight by my arms when I left the ratlines and climbed still higher, was more difficult.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
“Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest of you aloft and get the chest,” he cried.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Ten archers, with thirty shipmen, under the master, may hold the waist while ten lie aloft with stones and arbalests.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He clasped his hands behind his head, threw them aloft, and swung them backwards, and at every movement some fresh expanse of his smooth, white skin became knobbed and gnarled with muscles, whilst a yell of admiration and delight from the crowd greeted each fresh exhibition.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He held a cuff aloft.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
There was I, then, mounted aloft; I, who had said I could not bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of the room, was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He was still a sick man, and I more than once observed him creeping painfully aloft to a topsail, or drooping wearily as he stood at the wheel.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
In one, sailors were singing at their work, in another there were men aloft, high over my head, hanging to threads that seemed no thicker than a spider's.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Johnson seems to spend all his spare time there or aloft at the crosstrees, watching the Ghost cleaving the water under press of sail.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
All was drawing alow and aloft; everyone was in the bravest spirits because we were now so near an end of the first part of our adventure.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
