vbl. sb. [f. LOFT sb. or v. + -ING1.]
1. concr. A roofing, ceiling or flooring. Obs. exc. dial. and in Mining.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), II. 388. Quhen ony preis of horsmen come aboue the said fowseis the lofting suld brek.
1603. Owen, Pembrokesh. (1891), 76. Tymber to serve for loftinges and roffes.
1640–1. Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855), 66. That the sklait roofe of the hows and batlement thairof be taken downe with the lofting thairof.
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 35. Lofting, wood … placed upon the top of the ordinary balks or crowntrees used in timbering through a fallen place, for the purpose of keeping up the loose stones.
2. Golf. The action of the vb. LOFT (sense 3).
1895. Westm. Gaz., 4 Feb., 8/2. Golfers who can skate should be proficient at bandy, in which lofting is a most desirable accomplishment.
3. attrib. and Comb.: lofting-iron, a golf-club used to loft a ball.
1887. Sir W. G. Simpson, Golf, 22. Lofting irons are more light-headed.
1892. W. E. Norris, in Century Mag., Aug., 606/2. The approach should always be a lofting-stroke.
