loaf

[ lohf ]

/ loʊf /

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See synonyms for: loaf / loafing / loaves on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural loaves

[lohvz]. /loʊvz/.

a portion of bread or cake baked in a mass, usually oblong with a rounded top.

a shaped or molded mass of food, as of sugar or chopped meat: a veal loaf.

British.

the rounded head of a cabbage, lettuce, etc.
Slang: Older Use. head or brains: Use your loaf.

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Origin of loaf

First recorded before 950; Middle English lo(o)f, Old English hlāf “loaf, bread”; cognate with German Laib, Old Norse hleifr, Gothic hlaifs

Words nearby loaf

loadspace, loadstar, loadstone, load the dice, loady, loaf, loaf bread, loafer, loaf pan, loaf sugar, loaiasis

Other definitions for loaf (2 of 2)

loaf²

[ lohf ]

/ loʊf /

verb (used without object)

to idle away time: He figured the mall was as good a place as any for loafing.

to lounge or saunter lazily and idly: We loafed for hours along the water's edge.

verb (used with object)

to pass idly (usually followed by away): to loaf one's life away.

OTHER WORDS FOR loaf

1 loll, idle.

See synonyms for loaf on Thesaurus.com

Origin of loaf

An Americanism first recorded in 1825–35; back formation from loafer

synonym study for loaf

1, 3. See lounge.

OTHER WORDS FROM loaf

un·loaf·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use loaf in a sentence

Toaster ovens can do the trick, of course, but while they’re usually long enough to accommodate these extra-large loaves, they can’t always fit more than one slice at a time.
Best toaster: Get perfectly golden slices every time|PopSci Commerce Team|February 10, 2021|Popular-Science
Whether you’re making sourdough bread or loaves made with commercial dry yeast, your bread dough is a living thing.
How to help your dough rise to the occasion in winter|Becky Krystal|February 1, 2021|Washington Post
Unless you’ve missed every single nutrition article since the early 1990s, you probably know that, in a nutritional face-off, a whole-wheat loaf beats Wonder Bread every time.
We Found a High-Fiber Flour That's Actually Tasty|AC Shilton|February 1, 2021|Outside Online
I dreamed of space telescopes the size of a loaf of bread—not one, but an army, fanning out into orbit like so many advance scouts.
My satellite would fit in a small suitcase.|Katie McLean|December 18, 2020|MIT Technology Review

Remove the loaf from the oven, and place it on a wire rack to cool.
Ease into Winter with Backcountry-Approved Comfort Food|Christina Bernstein|November 12, 2020|Outside Online
He had a special knife designed to cut the dense loaf, and a ceremony to precede cutting the cake.
One Cake to Rule Them All: How Stollen Stole Our Hearts|Molly Hannon|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The featured photo for the list, first of all, is as white as a loaf of Wonder Bread and as male as a football locker room.
We Need to Talk About Silicon Valley's Racism|Samantha Allen|August 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This 2-0 was a clear-cut win, a sharp slice through a loaf, no ambiguity, no crumbs.
Chile Ends Spain’s World Cup Reign|Tunku Varadarajan|June 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It is built not in a long bun, but in a half-loaf of fresh, tawny-crusted Italian bread.
The Jersey Shore’s Biggest Weiners Are at Jimmy Buff’s|Jane & Michael Stern|June 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In her cramped kitchen she mashed pork fat with oatmeal and sculpted a loaf, which she fried up in patties.
‘Tracing the Blue Light’: Read Chapter 1 of Eileen Cronin’s ‘Mermaid’|Eileen Cronin|April 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Toward eight o'clock a pretty, capable-looking girl of twelve came out of the house and bought a loaf of bread at the baker's.
The Box-Car Children|Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Corn-law compels us to pay three times the value for a loaf of bread.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
The brown loaf was cut by a very excited little hostess into five thick squares; the cheese into four.
The Box-Car Children|Gertrude Chandler Warner
They were knives; anyway, they were used to spread the delicious morsels of butter on the brown loaf.
The Box-Car Children|Gertrude Chandler Warner
A miche is a loaf of fine manchet bread, of good quality; see Cotgrave.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems|Geoffrey Chaucer

British Dictionary definitions for loaf (1 of 2)

loaf¹

/ (ləʊf) /

noun plural loaves (ləʊvz)

a shaped mass of baked bread

any shaped or moulded mass of food, such as cooked meat

slang the head; senseuse your loaf!

Word Origin for loaf

Old English hlāf; related to Old High German hleib bread, Old Norse hleifr, Latin libum cake

British Dictionary definitions for loaf (2 of 2)

loaf²

/ (ləʊf) /

verb

(intr) to loiter or lounge around in an idle way

(tr foll by away) to spend (time) idlyhe loafed away his life

Word Origin for loaf

C19: perhaps back formation from loafer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with loaf

loaf

see half a loaf is better than none.

loaf

Origin of loaf

Words nearby loaf

Other definitions for loaf (2 of 2)

OTHER WORDS FOR loaf

Origin of loaf

synonym study for loaf

OTHER WORDS FROM loaf

Words related to loaf

How to use loaf in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for loaf (1 of 2)

Word Origin for loaf

British Dictionary definitions for loaf (2 of 2)

Word Origin for loaf

Other Idioms and Phrases with loaf