rafter

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In building, one of the beams which give the slope of a roof, and to which is secured the lath or other framework upon which the slate or other outer covering is nailed.
• noun Same as carline, 2.
• noun In anatomy, a trabecule or trabeculum: as, the rafters of the embryonic skull.
• noun One who is employed in rafting timber, or transporting it in rafts, as from a ship to the shore.
• To form into or like rafters: as, to rafter timber.
• To furnish or build with rafters: as, to rafter a house.
• In agriculture, to plow, as a piece of land, by turning the grass side of the plowed furrow on a strip of ground left unplowed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Arch.) Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now, commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping, according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of queen-post.
• transitive verb To make into rafters, as timber.
• transitive verb To furnish with rafters, as a house.
• transitive verb (Agric.), engraving To plow so as to turn the grass side of each furrow upon an unplowed ridge; to ridge.
• noun A raftsman.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun One of a series of sloped beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.
• noun flock of turkeys
• verb transitive To make (timber, etc.) into rafters.
• verb transitive To furnish (a building) with rafters.
• verb UK, agriculture To plough so as to turn the grass side of each furrow upon an unploughed ridge; to ridge.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb provide (a ceiling) with rafters
• noun one of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof
• noun someone who travels by raft