Raft
Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary web : https://eddonline4-proj.uibk.ac.at/edd/main.html
RAFT, sb.1 Cum. Yks. [raft.] A rafter. Cum. T'main timmers of our house is pencil wood, an t'rafts is fir, Dickinson Sng. Sol. (1859) i. 17. w.Yks. (J.W.) [MSwed. raft (Ihre); Dan. raft, a rafter.]
RAFTER, sb.1 Lon. A raftsman in the timber-trade. I now come to the timber and deal trade. The labourers connected with this portion of the trade are rafters or raftsmen, and deal or stave-porters, Mayhew Lond. Labour (1851) III. 295, ed. 1861.
RAFTER, v. and sb.2 Glo. Brks. Hmp. Wil. Also in form refter Brks.1 Wil. [ræ·ftə(r).] 1. v. To plough in a particular way; see below. Glo. It is either ploughed, or sometimes only half-ploughed (raftered, as it is called here). Morton Glo. Farm (1832) 8. Hmp. A sort of rest-baulk ploughing, on account of the number of flint-stones rendering it too difficult to breast-plough, Young Annals Agric. (1784-1815) XXIII. 357; Hmp.1 Wil. They rafter the land,.. that is, they plough half of the land, and turn the grass side of the ploughed furrow on the land that is left unploughed Davis Gen. View Agric. (1811) vii; To raise a thin slice from a narrow furrow, and lay it flat on an unploughed space, Young Annals Agric. XLIII. 492; Wil.1 n.Wil. Leaving a narrow strip of ground undisturbed, and turning up a furrow on to it ─ on both sides ─ so that the result is a succession of narrow ridges (E.H.G.). s.Wil. Marshall Review (1817) V. 217. 2. Comp. Rafter-ridging, a certain mode of ploughing land; see below. Hmp. The ploughman strikes out a furrow, and then returns with his plough close to the back of it, forming it into a ridge, and so goes through the whole field, forming a ridge with every turn of the plough, and leaving a furrow between, giving the ridges somewhat the appearance of rafters, whence the term, Holloway. 3. sb. A wide furrow in a ploughed field, formed by ‘raftering.’ Brks.1 A field of ploughed land is sometimes called a ‘pe-us o' refters.’ Wil. When the opportunity occurs the rafters are ploughed across and well worked by heavy harrows, Agric. Gas. in Devizes Gaz. (Nov. 12, 1896); Slow Gl. (1892).
Source : Century Dictionary web : http://triggs.djvu.org/century-dictionary.com/splash3.html
