abaft en · ADV
Pronunciation
Etymology
From Middle English obaft, baft, baften, from Old English beæftan; be (“by”) (modern English by) + æftan (“behind”) (modern English after). See also aft.
Meanings
-
On the aft side; in the stern.
The mate sleeps abaft.
Stubb was struck by a shower of outcries and anathemas proceeding from the Captain’s round-house abaft;
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “'”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 452:By clapping the sails to the mast, and lightening the ship abaft, we swayed her off with little damage.
1785, John Rickman, Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage, London: E. Newbery, Part 1, p. 103:We drifted with the wind abaft.
We cover our anterior nakedness with some philosophy—Christian, Marxian, Freudo-Physicalist—but abaft we remain uncovered, at the mercy of the winds of circumstance.
1954, Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, New York: Perennial, published 1970, page 72:The Exchange also being farther from the fire, afterward was more easily cleared, and fell off from abaft.
1599, Nicholas Downton, “The firing and sinking of the stout and warrelike Carack called Las Cinque Llaguas”, in Richard Hakluyt, editor, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, London, Volume 2, Part 2, p. 200:
- (obsolete) Backwards.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most abaft | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more abaft | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| baft | alternative | lexicographic |
Relateds
Translations (23)
it a poppavia ((nautical) on the aft side) · fr sur l'arrière ((nautical) on the aft side) · gv gys y stiur ((nautical) on the aft side) · et ahtris ((nautical) on the aft side) · it verso poppa ((nautical) on the aft side) · nl achteruit ((nautical) on the aft side) · de achtern ((nautical) on the aft side) · fi perässä ((nautical) on the aft side) · ca a popa ((nautical) on the aft side) · arz فأخر ((nautical) on the aft side) · it a poppa ((nautical) on the aft side) · es a popa ((nautical) on the aft side) · tr kıç tarafında ((nautical) on the aft side) · gv gys jerrey ny lhuingey ((nautical) on the aft side) · pt à popa ((nautical) on the aft side) · de achteraus ((nautical) on the aft side) · nl naar achter ((nautical) on the aft side) · fi takaa ((nautical) on the aft side) · fi perään ((nautical) on the aft side) · fr vers l'arrière ((nautical) on the aft side) · cs na záď ((nautical) on the aft side) · cs na zádi ((nautical) on the aft side) · ar فِي مُؤَخَّرَة ((nautical) on the aft side)