An archaic nautical term meaning 'toward the back' or 'aft,' referring to the rear portion of a ship.
From Old Norse 'baft' or Old English roots related to 'aft,' the rear of a ship. The word is largely obsolete, replaced by the more standard 'aft'.
This wonderfully obscure word reminds us that sailors had multiple ways to describe ship positioning—'baft' eventually lost out to 'aft' because shorter words tend to survive in practical, fast-paced environments like seafaring.
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