raft [LME] In the Middle Ages a raft was a beam or rafter (OE from the same root). The source was Old Norse raptr ‘rafter’. Politicians of today often talk about their party having a whole raft of policies. Raft meaning ‘a large amount’ appears in the 19th century. It probably represents an alteration of a dialect word raff meaning ‘abundance’, probably by association with the earlier raft ‘floating mass’.