meatloaf

American  

[meet-lohf] / ˈmitˌloʊf /

Or meat loaf

noun

• meatloaves
  plural

1. a dish of ground meat, often mixed with other ingredients, as breadcrumbs and seasonings, molded in the shape of a loaf and baked.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• meatloaves
  plural

Etymology

Origin of meatloaf

First recorded in 1890–95; meat + loaf ¹

Explanation

When you mix ground beef with spices and bake it in a bread pan, you get a meatloaf. Cut into slices and put between two pieces of bread, meatloaf makes a great sandwich, too. Meatloaf is a staple of many dinner tables, often served with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable. Variations on meatloaf have been around at least since 5th-century Rome, and it's especially common today in Germany and parts of Scandinavia. You can think of a meatloaf as a giant meatball, a mixture of ingredients like ground meat, breadcrumbs, herbs, and often vegetables or cheese. This dish shouldn't be confused with the singer known as Meat Loaf.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

meatloaf meatloaves

When Julie Masino became Cracker Barrel’s CEO in 2023, she arrived with plans to modernize a restaurant chain known for breakfast, meatloaf, rocking chairs and a homespun atmosphere.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Devotees swear by the beer-battered mahi mahi tacos, but with salads, buffalo meatloaf and half-pound burgers also on offer, there’s something for everyone in the car.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026

One of the reasons a steakhouse is such a prime place to order meatloaf is simple: the meat they are loafing is usually excellent.

From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026

Yet if steakhouse meatloaf feels like a revelation, it’s not because of wizardry.

From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026

I thought I smelled meatloaf baking in the oven.

From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English

In meatballs and meatloaves, for crisply coating cutlets and fried fish and mozzarella sticks: breadcrumbs, yes.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 7, 2024

She trots out mom-speak chestnuts — “you’ll shoot your eye out” — and churns out meatloaves for the family dinners.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 4, 2023

I will assume that you have already passed the sophomore class of ground meat with its burgers, meatloaves, meatballs, and their consortiums.

From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2018

“When you start researching meatloaf varieties, you realize how many people have done meatloaves that essentially mimic other dishes,” Mr. Bruni said.

From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2017

Kibbeh can be fried or roasted or stewed, layered into sloppy casseroles or baked into big meatloaves.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 7, 2016