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Loaf

 - 7 dictionary results

loaf

1  [lohf]
Use Loaf in a Sentence
–noun, plural loaves  [lohvz] .
1. a portion of bread or cake baked in a mass, usually oblong with a rounded top.
2. a shaped or molded mass of food, as of sugar or chopped meat: a veal loaf.
3. British.
a. the rounded head of a cabbage, lettuce, etc.
b. Slang: Older Use. head or brains: Use your loaf.
Origin:
bef. 950; ME lo(o)f, OE hlāf loaf, bread; c. G Laib, ON hleifr, Goth hlaifs

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.
–verb (used with object)
3. to pass idly (usually fol. by away): to loaf one's life away.
Origin:
1825–35, Americanism; back formation from loafer

Synonyms:
2. loll, idle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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loaf 1   (lōf)   
n.   pl. loaves (lōvz)

  1. A shaped mass of bread baked in one piece.

  2. A shaped, usually rounded or oblong, mass of food: veal loaf.


[Middle English lof, from Old English hlāf.]
Word History: Loaf, lord, and lady are closely related words that testify to bread's fundamental importance in the Middle Ages. Curiously, though bread was a staple food in many Indo-European cultures, loaf and its cognates occur only in the Germanic languages, and lord and lady only in English. Loaf derives from Old English hlāf, "bread, loaf of bread," related to Gothic hlaifs, Old Norse hleifr, and Modern German Laib, all of which mean "loaf of bread." Hlāf survives in Lammas, originally Hlāfmaesse, "Loaf-Mass," the Christian Feast of the First Fruits, traditionally celebrated on August 1. A lord, Old English hlāford, was a compound meaning "loaf-ward, keeper of bread," because a lord maintains and feeds his household and offers hospitality. Similarly, lady derives from Old English hlǣfdige, which became lady by 1382. The -dige comes from dæge, "kneader," and is related to our dough. A lady, therefore, is "a kneader of bread, a breadmaker." Lord and lady both retain vestiges of their original meanings, although England's aristocrats have not been elbow deep in flour, let alone dough, for several centuries.
loaf 2   (lōf)   
intr.v.   loafed, loaf·ing, loafs
To pass time at leisure; idle.

[Probably back-formation from loafer.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

loaf  (n.)
O.E. hlaf "bread, loaf," from P.Gmc. *khlaibuz (cf. O.N. hleifr, Swed. lev, Ger. Laib, Goth. hlaifs), of uncertain origin, perhaps connected to O.E. 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. O.C.S. chlebu, Finn. leipä, Lith. klepas probably are Gmc. loan words. Meaning "chopped meat shaped like a bread loaf" is attested from 1787.

loaf  (v.)
1835, Amer.Eng., back-formation from loafer (1830), which often is regarded as a variant of land loper (1795), a partial loan-translation of Ger. Landläufer "vagabond," from Land "land" + Läufer "runner," from laufen "to run" (see leap). But OED finds this "not very probable." Loafer, the type of shoe, is attested from 1939, originally a brand name (Fortnum and Mason Ltd., London).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

loaf

see half a loaf is better than none.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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