Raft

[raft, rahft] /ræft, rɑft/

noun
1.
a more or less rigid floating platform made of buoyant material or materials:
an inflatable rubber raft.
2.
a collection of logs, planks, casks, etc., fastened together for floating on water.
3.
.
4.
a slab of reinforced concrete providing a footing on yielding soil, usually for a whole building, so that the weight of the soil that would be displaced by the settlement of the building exceeds the weight of the building itself; mat.
verb (used with object)
5.
to transport on a raft.
6.
to form (logs or the like) into a raft.
7.
to travel or cross by raft.
8.
(of an ice floe) to transport (embedded organic or rock debris) from the shore out to sea.
verb (used without object)
9.
to use a raft; go or travel on a raft.
10.
(of an ice floe) to overlap another ice floe.
[raft, rahft] /ræft, rɑft/
noun, Informal.
1.
a great quantity; a lot:
a raft of trouble.
/rɑːft/
noun
1.
a buoyant platform of logs, planks, etc, used as a vessel or moored platform
2.
a thick slab of reinforced concrete laid over soft ground to provide a foundation for a building
verb
3.
to convey on or travel by raft, or make a raft from
/rɑːft/
noun
1.
(informal) a large collection or amount: a raft of old notebooks discovered in a cupboard
n.

“floating platform,” late 15c., originally “rafter” (c.1300), from a Scandinavian source, cf. Old Norse raptr “log” (Old Norse -pt- pronounced as -ft-), related to Middle Low German rafter, rachter “rafter” (see rafter).

“large collection,” 1830, variant of raff “heap, large amount,” from Middle English raf (cf. raffish, riffraff); form and sense associated with raft (n.1).
v.

1680s, from raft (n.1). Related: Rafted; rafting.

noun

A large number; oodles, slew: I have rafts of reasons for not doing that

[1833+; fr earlier uses of raft to mean a dense flight of waterfowl, a mass of logs in a river, etc]