Library / English Dictionary

RAFT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A flat float (usually made of logs or planks) that can be used for transport or as a platform for swimmers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

float (something that floats on the surface of water)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "raft"):

balsa raft; Kon Tiki (a light raft made of balsa)

Carling float; life raft (a raft to use if a ship must be abandoned in an emergency)

Derivation:

raft (make into a raft)

raft (travel by raft in water)

raft (transport on a raft)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A foundation (usually on soft ground) consisting of an extended layer of reinforced concrete

Synonyms:

mat; raft; raft foundation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

base; foot; foundation; fundament; groundwork; substructure; understructure (lowest support of a structure)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent

Example:

a wad of money

Synonyms:

batch; deal; flock; good deal; great deal; hatful; heap; lot; mass; mess; mickle; mint; mountain; muckle; passel; peck; pile; plenty; pot; quite a little; raft; sight; slew; spate; stack; tidy sum; wad

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

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

large indefinite amount; large indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "raft"):

deluge; flood; inundation; torrent (an overwhelming number or amount)

haymow (a mass of hay piled up in a barn for preservation)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make into a raft

Example:

raft these logs

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

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

construct; fabricate; manufacture (put together out of artificial or natural components or parts)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

raft (a flat float (usually made of logs or planks) that can be used for transport or as a platform for swimmers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Travel by raft in water

Example:

Raft the Colorado River

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

raft (transport on a raft)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

They raft the river

They raft down the river

Derivation:

raft (a flat float (usually made of logs or planks) that can be used for transport or as a platform for swimmers)

rafter (someone who travels by raft)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Transport on a raft

Example:

raft wood down a river

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

transport (move something or somebody around; usually over long distances)

Verb group:

raft (travel by raft in water)

Domain category:

navigation; pilotage; piloting (the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

raft (a flat float (usually made of logs or planks) that can be used for transport or as a platform for swimmers)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The activity of Csk also appears to depend on other factors such as CBP, which recruits Csk to the plasma membrane in lipid rafts where other signaling factors such the T cell receptor complex are localized.

(CSK Protein Kinase Activation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

"The Tin Woodman must build us a raft, so we can float to the other side."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Lipid rafts, specialized microdomains of plasma membrane, are overexpressed in cancer cells compared to normal cells.

(Iodine I 124 Phospholipid Ether Analogue CLR1404, NCI Thesaurus)

I quickly destroyed part of my sledge to construct oars, and by these means was enabled, with infinite fatigue, to move my ice raft in the direction of your ship.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

For that matter, they were all loafing,—Buck, John Thornton, and Skeet and Nig,—waiting for the raft to come that was to carry them down to Dawson.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Dorothy sat down in the middle of the raft and held Toto in her arms.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I shall quit your vessel on the ice raft which brought me thither and shall seek the most northern extremity of the globe; I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

When Thornton’s partners, Hans and Pete, arrived on the long-expected raft, Buck refused to notice them till he learned they were close to Thornton; after that he tolerated them in a passive sort of way, accepting favors from them as though he favored them by accepting.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Down the stream the raft floated, and the poor Scarecrow was left far behind.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

They were of the same large type as Thornton, living close to the earth, thinking simply and seeing clearly; and ere they swung the raft into the big eddy by the saw-mill at Dawson, they understood Buck and his ways, and did not insist upon an intimacy such as obtained with Skeet and Nig.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)