loaf1
- 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.
Origin of loaf1
loaf2
- 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.
- to pass idly (usually followed by away): to loaf one's life away.
Origin of loaf2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for loaf on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for loaf
Contemporary Examples
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.
This 2-0 was a clear-cut win, a sharp slice through a loaf, no ambiguity, no crumbs.
In her cramped kitchen she mashed pork fat with oatmeal and sculpted a loaf, which she fried up in patties.
To fill demand, the Martins collaborated with baker John Gendusa who developed a 40-inch loaf of French bread to reduce waste.
New Orleans Celebrates Its Favorite Sandwich at the Oak Street Po-Boy FestivalTyler Gillespie
November 26, 2013
On two of the most divisive social issues, most Republicans seem to want to concede a quarter loaf and move on.
Historical Examples
It has all been very sweet, but it will also be sweet to loaf awhile.
Ballads of a BohemianRobert W. Service
They want to loaf about, and drink, and be a nuisance to everybody, like some of the rich ones.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
If it had been a loaf of bread he thought it would be more consistent.
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
The shape of the loaf must also be taken into consideration.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Fig. 14 illustrates a loaf of bread that has risen too much.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 1Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
loaf1
- 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
loaf2
- (intr) to loiter or lounge around in an idle way
- (tr foll by away) to spend (time) idlyhe loafed away his life
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for loaf
n.
late 13c., from Old English hlaf "portion of bread baked in a mass of definite form," from Proto-Germanic *khlaibuz (cf. Old Norse hleifr, Swedish lev, Old Frisian hlef, Old High German hleib, German Laib, Gothic hlaifs "bread, loaf"), of uncertain origin, perhaps connected to Old English hlifian "to raise higher, tower," on the notion of the bread rising as it bakes, but it is unclear whether "loaf" or "bread" is the original sense. Finnish leipä, Old Church Slavonic chlebu, Lithuanian klepas probably are Germanic loan words. Meaning "chopped meat shaped like a bread loaf" is attested from 1787.
v.
1835, American English, back-formation from loafer (1830), which often is regarded as a variant of land loper (1795), a partial loan-translation of German Landläufer "vagabond," from Land "land" + Läufer "runner," from laufen "to run" (see leap). But OED finds this connection "not very probable." Related: Loafed; loafing.
Idioms and Phrases with loaf
loaf
see half a loaf is better than none.