/əˈbɑːft/, /əˈbæft/
OriginFrom Middle English obaft, baft, baften, from Old English beæftan; be (“by”) (modern English by) + æftan (“behind”) (modern English after). See also aft.
- Behind; toward the stern relative to some other object or position; aft of.
“The captain stood abaft the wheelhouse.”
“[…] two drunken Turkes, that were in the Frigot with twelue others, discharged two Calieuers, with which they killed two Souldiours, that stood abaft our Gally.”
“1773, James Cook, An Account of a Voyage Around the World, Book 3, Chapter 5, in John Hawkesworth (ed.), An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty: for Making Discoverie”
- On the aft side; in the stern.
“We drifted with the wind abaft.”
“The mate sleeps abaft.”
“The Exchange also being farther from the fire, afterward was more easily cleared, and fell off from abaft.”
- obsoleteBackwards.
Formsbaft(alternative) · more abaft(comparative) · most abaft(superlative)