abaft


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Related to abaft: Abaft the beam

a·baft

 (ə-băft′) Nautical
prep.
Toward the stern from.
adv.
Toward the stern.

[Middle English on baft : on, at; see on + baft, to the rear (from Old English beæftan, behind : be, by, at; see ambhi in Indo-European roots + æftan, behind; see apo- in Indo-European roots).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

abaft

(əˈbɑːft) nautical
adv, adj (postpositive)
(Nautical Terms) closer to the stern than to another place on a vessel: with the wind abaft.
prep
(Nautical Terms) behind; aft of: abaft the mast.
[C13: on baft; baft from Old English beæftan, from be by + æftan behind]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

a•baft

(əˈbæft, əˈbɑft)
Naut. prep.
1. to the rear of; aft of; behind.
adv.
2. toward the stern; astern; aft.
[1225–75; Middle English on baft, abaft= a-1 and on on + baft, Old English bæftan contraction of be + æftan. See by1, aft1]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adv.1.abaft - at or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplaneabaft - at or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplane; "stow the luggage aft"; "ships with square sails sail fairly efficiently with the wind abaft"; "the captain looked astern to see what the fuss was about"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

abaft

[əˈbɑːft] (Naut)
A. ADVa popa, en popa
B. PREPdetrás de
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

abaft

adv (Naut) → achtern
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
Louis at four in the afternoon, and she stood on the lower guard abaft the paddle box and watched Tom through a blur of tears until he melted into the throng of people and disappeared; then she looked no more, but sat there on a coil of cable crying till far into the night.
Abaft the mainmast the deck-pump was being ceaselessly worked by relays of the passengers; dry blankets were passed forward, soaking blankets were passed aft, and flung flat into the furnace one after another.
The bunk next on the port side to the cook's and abaft of it Daughtry allotted to Kwaque.
Read the sign up there--NO SMOKING ABAFT THE WHEEL!"
Look at that one, the aftest abaft the bier-bank, read it!"
Stubb was struck by a shower of outcries and anathemas proceeding from the Captain's round-house abaft; and looking in that direction saw a fiery face thrust from behind the door, which was held ajar from within.
He made his way to the yam sacks lashed abaft the mizzenmast and got his bottle.
Four of the hands with the boss'n were at work abaft. I passed up to them some of the rifles all the ships on the China coast carry in the cabin, and led them on the bridge.
I dudna like the look o' ut, an' I was fuggerin' maybe tull heave to tull the marn, when she took ut over abaft the brudge.
Her interior was wholly rebuilt, so that the hold became main-cabin and staterooms, while abaft amidships were installed engines, a dynamo, an ice machine, storage batteries, and, far in the stern, gasoline tanks.
On these days you could make out that ship at a great distance by the multi-coloured grotesque riot going on abaft her mizzen mast.
Nevertheless, so potent an influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod's main-mast.