loaves
- plural of loaf1.
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
Examples from the Web for loaves
Contemporary Examples
In them days, you could get two loaves of bread for a nickel.
Historical Examples
Bake for an hour or more, according to the size of the loaves.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 1Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
When the loaves have risen sufficiently, bake for about 50 minutes.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 1Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Knead the dough, let it rise again, and form it into loaves.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 1Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Charmides waited to see him put the loaves into the hot cave.
Buried Cities, Part 2Jennie Hall
Which of you shall have a friend at midnight, and shall say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves?
The Ministry of IntercessionAndrew Murray
loaves
- the plural of loaf 1
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 loaves
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.
loaf
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 loaves
loaf
see half a loaf is better than none.