abaft

Definition

Behind; toward the stern relative to some other object or position; aft of.

Etymology

From Middle English obaft, baft, baften, from Old English beæftan; be (“by”) (modern English by) + æftan (“behind”) (modern English after). See also aft.

Example Sentences

• "The captain stood abaft the wheelhouse."
• "[…] two drunken Turkes, that were in the Frigot with twelue others, discharged two Calieuers, with which they killed two Souldiours, that stood abaft our Gally."
• "1773, James Cook, An Account of a Voyage Around the World, Book 3, Chapter 5, in John Hawkesworth (ed.), An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty: for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, Volume 3, p. 558, […] we could hear the water rush in a little abaft the foremast, about three feet from the keel: this determined me to clear the hold intirely."