Also 5–7 tofte, (7 tuft), 8–9 Sc. dial. taft. [Late OE. toft, a. ON. topt, tupt, later toft, tuft (Norw. toft, tuft, tyft ‘ground attached to a house’ (Aasen), early and dial. Swed. toft, Da. toft, tofte), existing beside and commonly identified with ON. tomt, OSwed. tompt (Vigfusson), Norw. tomt (Aasen), Swed. tomt, Da. tomt ‘toft’; both forms:—OTeut. *tumft-, *tumf(e)t-, with which cf. Gr. δά-πεδον:—*dm-pedo-m, a level surface, lit. ‘a site for building.’]
1. Originally, a homestead, the site of a house and its out-buildings; a house site. Often in the expression toft and croft, denoting the whole holding, consisting of the homestead and attached piece of arable land.
1001. in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., III. 317. Healf þæt land æt Suðham, innur and uttur, on tofte and on crofte.
a. 1100. in Sax. Leechd., III. 286. And ic aʓnian wille to aʓenre ahte ðæt ðæt ic hæbbe, & næfre ðæt yntan, ne plot ne ploh, ne turf ne toft, ne furh ne fotmæl, ne land ne læse, ne fersc ne mersc, ne ruh ne rum.
12[?]. (orig. a. 1100) Charter of Siflæd, in Birch, Cart. Sax., III. 217. And ic [an] mine landsethlen here toftes to owen aihte and alle mine men fre.
1290. Rolls of Parlt., I. 62/1. Johanna … petit dotem … de VIII to Toftis et VIII to Bovatis terre. Ibid. (1348), II. 205/1. Un toft & cink acres de terre.
14[?]. Customs of Malton, in Surtees Misc. (1888), 63. For every tofte þt is nott beldydd j d.
1473. Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1870), I. 165. Ilke man sal kepe his pairt of his malyn and his toft that his nichtbur be nocht injuryt.
1592. West, Symbol., II. Fines, § 55. A Toft is the place wherein a mesuage hath stand.
1607. Norden, Surv. Dial., v. 207. I haue … obserued … that many croftes, toftes, pightes, pingles, and other small quillits of land, about farme houses, and Tenements, are suffred to lie together idle.
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1800/4. A Tuft of Ground … by Thames-Street, will be disposed of by Lease for 61 years, by the Committee for Letting the City Lands.
1760. Ld. Mansfield, in Burrow’s Rep. (1766), II. 1064. The Owner of a House may, if he pleases, pull it quite down, and convert it into a Toft.
1790. A. Wilson, To Eben. Picken, Poet. Wks. (1846), 107. And scores o’ times, in kintra tafts, They’ve gart the fouk maist rive their chafts.
1809. Bawdwen, Domesday Bk., 614. But the riding say that he has only 91/2 acres and one toft, the soke of which belongs to the King’s Manor of Gayton.
1818. Hallam, Mid. Ages, ix. I. (1819), III. 366. A house with its stables and farm-buildings, surrounded by a hedge or inclosure, was called a court, or … a curtilage; the loft or homestead of a more genuine English dialect.
2. Apparently including the croft, or applied to a field or piece of land larger than the site of a house.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 495/1. Toft, campus.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 315. iij. mesis liyng to-gedir … with the toftis liyng therto…; also with two toftis I-closed in, of the which one strecchith hit-self in lengthe of the gardeyn of the seid Symond, and another in lengthe of the gardeyn of the said abbesse and Couent, in þe forsaid towne of karsynton.
1549. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 82/2. Terras de Drumfyne nuncupatas the Toftis of Drumfyne.
1598. Kitchin, Courts Leet (1675), 151. One Tenement with a Toft adjoining.
1831. Landor, Fra Rupert, II. i. Though the parks and groves and tofts around,… Open would be to her.
3. An eminence, knoll, or hillock in a flat region; esp. one suitable for the site of a house or tower. Cf. quot. 1863. Now local.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. Prol. 14. I sauh a Tour on A Toft triȝely I-maket; A Deop Dale bi-neoþe.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 359. In þe myddel of þat playn was a litel toft as it were an hille [colliculus turgescebat].
1558. Phaër, Æneid, VII. U iv. They, from their Fescen hilles, and from Faliscus equall toftes.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, xxii. 368. A farm named Tratharholt, crowning a toft which rises out of green meads and almost impossible swamps.
1887. Fenn, Dick o’ Fens (1888), 23. Right up on a high toft with the river on one side and the fens for miles on the other.
† 4. ‘A small grove of trees’ (E.D.D.). dial. (or ? error in Kersey’s Phillips.) Obs.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Toft … also a Grove of Trees.
1726. Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), Toft, a Grove of trees.
5. attrib. and Comb., as toft field, toftstead; toftmen, the owner or occupier of a toft.
1763. Museum Rust., I. 35. The soil of your upper *toft field.
1826. Scott, Jrnl., 16 March. I shall have on the toft field a gallant show of extensive woodland.
12[?]. Prior. Lewens, 18 (Cowell’s Interpr., 1684). *Toftmanni similiter operabantur.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Toft-man, the Owner of a Toft.
1524. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 180. An other *toftstede which I haue in Lownd.
1773. Burstwick Inclos. Act, 6. Gardens, orchards, toftsteads, crofts.
1839. Stonehouse, Axholme, 35. To the owners of ancient messuages, cottages, tofts, and toftsteads.
