What is "raft"

Raft \Raft\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rafted; p. pr. & vb. n. Rafting.] To transport on a raft, or in the form of a raft; to make into a raft; as, to raft timber.

Raft \Raft\ (r[.a]ft), obs. imp. & p. p. of Reave.
--Spenser.

Raft \Raft\, n. [Originally, a rafter, spar, and fr. Icel. raptr a rafter; akin to Dan. raft, Prov. G. raff a rafter, spar; cf. OHG. r[=a]fo, r[=a]vo, a beam, rafter, Icel. r[=a]f roof. Cf. Rafter, n.]

1. A collection of logs, boards, pieces of timber, or the like, fastened together, either for their own collective conveyance on the water, or to serve as a support in conveying other things; a float.

2. A collection of logs, fallen trees, etc. (such as is formed in some Western rivers of the United States), which obstructs navigation. [U.S.]

3. [Perhaps akin to raff a heap.] A large collection of people or things taken indiscriminately. [Slang, U. S.] ``A whole raft of folks.'' --W. D. Howells. Raft bridge.

   1. A bridge whose points of support are rafts.

   2. A bridge that consists of floating timbers fastened together. Raft duck. [The name alludes to its swimming in dense flocks.] (Zo["o]l.)

      1. The bluebill, or greater scaup duck; -- called also flock duck. See Scaup.

      2. The redhead.

         Raft port (Naut.), a large, square port in a vessel's side for loading or unloading timber or other bulky articles; a timber or lumber port.

Reave \Reave\ (r[=e]v), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reaved (r[=e]vd), Reft (r[e^]ft), or Raft (r[.a]ft) (obs.); p. pr. & vb. n. Reaving.] [AS. re['a]fian, from re['a]f spoil, plunder, clothing, re['o]fan to break (cf. bire['o]fan to deprive of); akin to G. rauben to rob, Icel. raufa to rob, rj[=u]fa to break, violate, Goth. bir['a]ub[=o]n to despoil, L. rumpere to break; cf. Skr. lup to break. [root]114. Cf. Bereave, Rob, v. t., Robe, Rove, v. i., Rupture.] To take away by violence or by stealth; to snatch away; to rob; to despoil; to bereave. [Archaic]. ``To reave his life.''
--Spenser.

He golden apples raft of the dragon.
--Chaucer.

If the wooers reave By privy stratagem my life at home.
--Chapman.

To reave the orphan of his patrimony.
--Shak.

The heathen caught and reft him of his tongue.
--Tennyson.

"floating platform," late 15c., originally "rafter" (c.1300), from a Scandinavian source such as 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 (compare raffish, riffraff); form and sense associated with raft (n.1).

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

Etymology 1 n. 1 A flat structure made of planks, barrels etc., that floats on water, and is used for transport, emergency or a platform for swimmers. 2 A flat-bottomed inflatable craft for floating or drifting on water. 3 A thick crowd of seabirds or sea mammals. 4 (context US English) A collection of logs, fallen trees, etc. which obstructs navigation in a river. 5 (context slang informal English) A large collection of people or things taken indiscriminately. vb. 1 (context transitive English) to convey on a raft 2 (context transitive English) to make into a raft 3 (context intransitive English) to travel by raft Etymology 2

n. A large (but unspecified) number, a lot. Etymology 3

vb. (en-pastreave)

1. v. transport on a raft; "raft wood down a river"

2. travel by raft in water; "Raft the Colorado River"

3. make into a raft; "raft these logs"

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

2. (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must have cost plenty" [syn: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, muckle, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad, whole lot, whole slew]

A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is the most basic of boat design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Although there are cross-over boat types that blur this definition, rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels, or inflated air chambers (such as pontoons), and are typically not propelled by an engine.

Raft is a 1991 hard science fiction book by author Stephen Baxter. Raft is both Baxter's first novel and first book in the Xeelee Sequence, although the Xeelee are not present. Raft was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1992.

Raft is a French pop band active in the 1980s, most notable for their 1987 hit single, "Yaka dansé (l'arborigène)".

Raft may refer to:

• Raft, a flat floating structure for travel over water
• RAFT (chemistry), reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer
• Raft (computer science), a distributed consensus protocol
• The Raft (comics), a fictional prison facility in the Marvel Universe
• Raft, a Stephen Baxter science fiction novel
• "The Raft," a Stephen King horror short story
• Raft spider, a European spider of the family Pisauridae

Raft, as a person, may refer to:

• George Raft (1895–1980), an American film actor
• Raft (band), a French band

Raft, as a location, may refer to:

• Great Raft, a gigantic log jam in the Red River, Louisiana, United States – or a log jam in other rivers
• Raft Island, a private island in Pierce County, Washington, U.S.
• Raft River, a river that flows from Utah to Idaho in the U.S.
• The Raft, a fictional refugee flotilla in the Neal Stephenson novel Snow Crash

Raft may also refer to:

• Floating raft system, a type of foundation
• Lipid raft, a cholesterol-enriched microdomain in cell membranes
• Rafting, recreational activity utilizing a raft
• Timber rafting, a log transportation method
• Remote Area Firefighting Team (RAFT), firefighting specialists
• Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT), a nonprofit organization supplying materials and ideas to teachers

Raft is a consensus algorithm designed as an alternative to Paxos. It was meant to be more understandable than Paxos by means of separation of logic, but it is also formally proven safe and offers some new features. Raft offers a generic way to distribute a state machine across a cluster of computing systems, ensuring that each node in the cluster agrees upon the same series of state transitions. It has a number of open-source reference implementations, with full-spec implementations in Go, C++, Java, and Scala.