loft

Etymology

From Middle English lofte (“air, sky, upper region, loft”), from Old English loft, (doublet of native Old English lyft) of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse lopt (“upper chamber, attic, region of sky, air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“air, sky”). Akin to Scots lift (“air; sky; firmament”), Dutch lucht (“air”), German Luft (“air”), Old English lyft (“air”). More at lift, aloft.

noun

1. (obsolete, except in derivatives) air, the air; the sky, the heavens.
2. An attic or similar space (often used for storage) in the roof of a house or other building.
   1. Such an attic used as an atelier.
      an artist's loft
3. (textiles) The thickness of a soft object when not under pressure.
   maximum loft
4. A gallery or raised apartment in a church, hall, etc.
   an organ loft
5. A residential flat (apartment) on an upper floor of an apartment building.
   a Manhattan loft
   Today, with a loft in Manhattan and a condo in Century City, they are the epitome of the bi-coastal couple. 1989-07-01, Jan Herman, “Sitcom face of Harry Groener also familiar on stage”, in Los Angeles Times, Entertainment and Arts
6. (golf) The pitch or slope of the face of a golf club (tending to drive the ball upward).
7. (obsolete) A floor or room placed above another.

verb

1. (transitive) To propel high into the air.
   Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal. September 28, 2011, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport
2. (intransitive) To fly or travel through the air, as though propelled
   When she saw houses lofting past her window, she ran to the child, who slept on a feather bed and she gathered the coverlet around them both. 2004, Wallace Akin, The Forgotten Storm
3. (bowling) To throw the ball erroneously through the air instead of releasing it on the lane's surface.
4. (transitive) To furnish with a loft space.
   Two sisters, one under fifteen years of age, have lofted the house, so as to have a room for themselves. 1853, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
5. (transitive) To raise (a bed) on tall supports so that the space beneath can be used for something else.
   Lofting a bed is much harder work than it seems, and pulling a nail out with the back of a hammer is much simpler than using your own nails. 2010, Casey Lewis, Knack Dorm Living, page 15

adj

1. (obsolete, rare) lofty; proud; haughty
   A heart, where dread was never so imprest To hide the thought that might the truth advance; In neither fortune loft, nor yet represt 1542, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Epitath on Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder