raft /rɑːft $ ræft/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Sense 1, 3-4: Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: raptr 'large piece of wood, rafter' ]
[ Sense 2: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: raff 'mixture of things' (17-19 centuries) , influenced by ⇨ ↑ raft (1) ]
1 . a flat floating structure, usually made of pieces of wood tied together, used as a boat
2 . a raft of something a large number of things:
The company has launched a whole raft of new software products.
3 . a flat floating structure that you can sit on, jump from etc when you are swimming
4 . a small flat rubber boat filled with air, used for example if a boat sinks