loaf

¹

[lohf]

noun

plural

loaves 

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

   I try to keep a loaf of sliced bread in the freezer.

2. a shaped or molded mass of food, as of ground meat or vegetables.

   The loaf is made with lentils and vegetables, and you can see the colorful bits of bell peppers speckled through it.

3. British.

   1. the rounded head of a cabbage, lettuce, etc.

   2. Slang: Older Use.,  head or brains.

      Use your loaf.

loaf

²

[lohf]

verb (used without object)

1. to idle away time.

   He figured the mall was as good a place as any for loafing.

2. to lounge or saunter lazily and idly.

   We loafed for hours along the water's edge.

   Synonyms: idle, loll

verb (used with object)

1. to pass idly (usually followed byaway ).

   to loaf one's life away.

loaf

¹

/ ləʊf /

noun

1. a shaped mass of baked bread

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

3. slang,  the head; sense

   use your loaf!

loaf

²

/ ləʊf /

verb

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

2. to spend (time) idly

   he loafed away his life

Other Word Forms

• unloafing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of loaf¹

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

Origin of loaf²

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of loaf¹

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

Origin of loaf²

C19: perhaps back formation from _loafer

Idioms and Phrases

see half a loaf is better than none.

Synonym Study

See lounge.

Example Sentences

They invited bakers from miles around to travel to the bakehouse at Ashton Place and bake samples of their finest loaves.

Read more on Literature

It was about a man who steals a loaf of bread and ends up in prison for many years.

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In addition to fresh vegetables, our dinners often consisted of chicken or meat loaf, beans, potatoes, and gravy.

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A can of pumpkin puree, leftover from a recent loaf, joined in.

Read more on Salon

Guillermo del Toro renders this with a small sunlit vision: a hulking figure perched on a rooftop, savoring a loaf left out for the spirit the villagers imagine him to be.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• bun 
• cake 
• cube 
• dough 
• pastry 
• slab