loaf

loaf¹

L0215900 (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, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz, perhaps from the same European substrate source as Greek klībanos, krībanos, earthen vessel for baking, tandoor.]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. Lord comes from Old English hlāford, 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.

loaf²

L0215900 (lōf)intr.v. loafed, loaf·ing, loafs To pass time at leisure; idle.

[Probably back-formation from loafer.]

loaf

(ləʊf) n, pl loaves (ləʊvz) 1. (Cookery) a shaped mass of baked bread2. (Cookery) any shaped or moulded mass of food, such as cooked meat3. slang the head; sense: use your loaf!. [Old English hlāf; related to Old High German hleib bread, Old Norse hleifr, Latin libum cake]

loaf

(ləʊf) vb1. (intr) to loiter or lounge around in an idle way2. (foll by: away) to spend (time) idly: he loafed away his life. [C19: perhaps back formation from loafer]

loaf¹

(loʊf)

n., pl. loaves (lōvz). 1. a portion of bread or cake usu. baked in an oblong mass with a rounded top. 2. a shaped or molded mass of food, as of chopped meat: a veal loaf. [before 950; Middle English lo(o)f, Old English hlāf loaf, bread, c. Old High German leip, Old Norse hleifr, Gothic hlaifs]

loaf²

(loʊf)
v.i. 1. to idle away time. 2. to lounge or saunter lazily and idly. v.t. 3. to pass idly (usu. fol. by away): to loaf one's life away. [1825–35, back formation from loafer]

loaf

bread bag - A plastic wrapper in which a loaf of bread is sold, intended to keep the bread fresh for longer than it would be if unwrapped.
loaf - A head on a cabbage.
bread - In Old English, it meant "piece, morsel," while actual bread was known as "loaf."
crumb - The soft inner part of a bread roll, slice, or loaf.

loaf

Past participle: loafed
Gerund: loafing

Imperative
loaf
loaf

Present
I loaf
you loaf
he/she/it loafs
we loaf
you loaf
they loaf

Preterite
I loafed
you loafed
he/she/it loafed
we loafed
you loafed
they loafed

Present Continuous
I am loafing
you are loafing
he/she/it is loafing
we are loafing
you are loafing
they are loafing

Present Perfect
I have loafed
you have loafed
he/she/it has loafed
we have loafed
you have loafed
they have loafed

Past Continuous
I was loafing
you were loafing
he/she/it was loafing
we were loafing
you were loafing
they were loafing

Past Perfect
I had loafed
you had loafed
he/she/it had loafed
we had loafed
you had loafed
they had loafed

Future
I will loaf
you will loaf
he/she/it will loaf
we will loaf
you will loaf
they will loaf

Future Perfect
I will have loafed
you will have loafed
he/she/it will have loafed
we will have loafed
you will have loafed
they will have loafed

Future Continuous
I will be loafing
you will be loafing
he/she/it will be loafing
we will be loafing
you will be loafing
they will be loafing

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been loafing
you have been loafing
he/she/it has been loafing
we have been loafing
you have been loafing
they have been loafing

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been loafing
you will have been loafing
he/she/it will have been loafing
we will have been loafing
you will have been loafing
they will have been loafing

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been loafing
you had been loafing
he/she/it had been loafing
we had been loafing
you had been loafing
they had been loafing

Conditional
I would loaf
you would loaf
he/she/it would loaf
we would loaf
you would loaf
they would loaf

Past Conditional
I would have loafed
you would have loafed
he/she/it would have loafed
we would have loafed
you would have loafed
they would have loafed

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	loaf - a shaped mass of baked bread that is usually sliced before eatingloaf of breadbread, breadstuff, staff of life - food made from dough of flour or meal and usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then bakedheel - one of the crusty ends of a loaf of breadFrench loaf - a loaf of French breadmeat loaf, meatloaf - a baked loaf of ground meat
	2.	loaf - a quantity of food (other than bread) formed in a particular shape; "meat loaf"; "sugar loaf"; "a loaf of cheese"solid food, food - any solid substance (as opposed to liquid) that is used as a source of nourishment; "food and drink"loaf sugar, sugar loaf, sugarloaf - a large conical loaf of concentrated refined sugarpound cake - rich loaf cake made of a pound each of butter and sugar and flourhaslet - heart and liver and other edible viscera especially of hogs; usually chopped and formed into a loaf and braisedheadcheese - sausage or jellied loaf made of chopped parts of the head meat and sometimes feet and tongue of a calf or piglunch meat, luncheon meat - any of various sausages or molded loaf meats sliced and served coldscrapple - scraps of meat (usually pork) boiled with cornmeal and shaped into loaves for slicing and frying
Verb	1.	loaf - be lazy or idle; "Her son is just bumming around all day"bum about, bum around, frig around, fuck off, loll around, lounge about, lounge around, waste one's time, arse about, arse around, bum, lolllaze, slug, idle, stagnate - be idle; exist in a changeless situation; "The old man sat and stagnated on his porch"; "He slugged in bed all morning"
	2.	loaf - be about; "The high school students like to loiter in the Central Square"; "Who is this man that is hanging around the department?"footle, hang around, lallygag, loiter, lollygag, mess about, mill about, mill around, tarry, lounge, lurk, lingerbe - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer"prowl, lurch - loiter about, with no apparent aim

loaf

¹noun1. lump, block, cake, cube, slab a loaf of crusty bread2. (Slang) head, mind, sense, common sense, block (informal), nous (Brit. slang), chump (Brit. slang), gumption (Brit. informal), noddle (informal, chiefly Brit.) You've got to use your loaf in this game.

loaf

²verb idle, hang around, take it easy, lie around, loiter, loll, laze, lounge around, doss (Brit. slang), veg out (slang, chiefly U.S.), be indolent She studied, and I just loafed around.

loaf

verbTo pass time without working or in avoiding work:bum (around), idle, laze, loiter, lounge, shirk.Slang: diddle, goldbrick, goof (off).

Translations

一条面包闲逛

loaf¹

(ləuf) – plural loaves (louvz) – noun a shaped mass of bread. a sliced loaf.一条面包

loaf²

(ləuf) verb (with about or around) to pass time without doing anything in particular. They were loafing about (the street).闲逛ˈloafer nounan idle loafer.游手好闲者

loaf

→ 一条面包zhCN

loaf

loaf about

To waste time idly; to spend time doing little or nothing. Chris, quit loafing about and help me take out the trash! After the stressful week that I had, I'm looking forward to just loafing about the house for the weekend.See also: loaf

half a loaf is better than no bread

Getting less than what one wants is better than getting nothing at all. I know they're offering you less money than you'd hoped for, but at least it's a good job—half a loaf is better than no bread.See also: better, bread, half, loaf, no

half a loaf is better than no loaf

loaf around

To waste time being idle; to spend time doing little or nothing. Quit loafing around and help me take out the trash! After the stressful week that I had, I'm looking forward to just loafing around the house for the weekend.See also: around, loaf

half a loaf

Less than what is desired. This is the abbreviated version of the phrase "half a loaf is better than none." I know they're offering you less money than you'd hoped for, but it's a good job, so I think you should accept half a loaf.See also: half, loaf

use (one's) loaf

To use one's own intelligence and intellectual ability; to think logically and rationally. In this phrase, "loaf" refers to one's head or brain. Often said as an imperative. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. Come on, Dean, I know you can figure this out on your own. Use your loaf! Jenny finally remembered to bring the right books home to do her homework. I'm glad she's finally using her loaf.See also: loaf, use

half a loaf is better than none

loaf away

1. To be idle or slothful; to be totally inactive. I don't want you loafing away on this sofa for the whole weekend, young man! After a long week of work, there's nothing I like better than to loaf away for a while with some video games or movies.2. To pass a certain amount or period of time by being very lazy or idle. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "loaf" and "away." Too many kids just loaf the summer away in front of their computers or televisions. In my 20s, I would spend every Friday and Saturday night at the bar with my friends, but now that I have kids, I just want to loaf away the evenings at home.See also: away, loaf

Half a loaf is better than none.

Prov. Getting only part of what you want is better than not getting anything. Fred: How did your court case go? Alan: Not good. I asked for $500, and the judge only awarded me $200. Fred: Half a loaf is better than none.See also: better, half, loaf, none

loaf around

to waste time; to idle the time away doing almost nothing. Every time I see you, you are just loafing around. I enjoy loafing around on the weekend.See also: around, loaf

loaf something away

to waste away a period of time. You have loafed the entire day away! He loafed away the entire day.See also: away, loaf

half a loaf is better than none

Something is better than nothing, even if it is less than one wanted. For example, He had asked for a new trumpet but got a used one-oh well, half a loaf is better than none . This expression, often shortened, was already a proverb in 1546, where it was explicitly put: "For better is half a loaf than no bread." See also: better, half, loaf, none

half a loaf is better than none

If you say that half a loaf is better than none, you mean that it is better to take what you can get, even if it is very little, than to risk having nothing at all. The reforms do not go as far as we wanted. Still, half a loaf is better than none. Note: Other words can be used instead of loaf and none. I'm very disappointed that there will only be one game, but half a loaf is better than no loaf, and we are happy that at least we will be playing once. Is half a step towards democracy better than no step at all?See also: better, half, loaf, none

half a loaf

not as much as you want but better than nothing. This phrase alludes to the proverb half a loaf is better than no bread , which has been in use since the mid 16th century.See also: half, loaf

use your loaf

use your common sense. British informal This expression probably comes from loaf of bread , rhyming slang for ‘head’.See also: loaf, use

half a ˌloaf is better than ˈnone/no ˈbread

(saying) you should be grateful for something, even if it is not as good, much, etc. as you really wanted; something is better than nothing: They’re only going to agree to some of this, but half a loaf is better than none, I suppose.See also: better, bread, half, loaf, no, none

half a loaf is better than none

Something is better than nothing, even if it is not all you wanted. This expression was already a proverb in John Heywood’s 1546 collection. G. K. Chesterton repeated it in his essay, What’s Wrong with the World: “Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.”See also: better, half, loaf, none

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loaf about

half a loaf is better than no bread

half a loaf is better than no loaf

loaf around

half a loaf

use (one's) loaf

half a loaf is better than none

loaf away

Half a loaf is better than none.

loaf around

loaf something away

half a loaf is better than none

half a loaf is better than none

half a loaf

use your loaf

half a ˌloaf is better than ˈnone/no ˈbread

half a loaf is better than none

LOAF

loaf

Synonyms for loaf

noun lump

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noun head

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verb idle

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Synonyms for loaf

verb to pass time without working or in avoiding work

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Synonyms for loaf

noun a shaped mass of baked bread that is usually sliced before eating

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Related Words

noun a quantity of food (other than bread) formed in a particular shape

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verb be lazy or idle

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verb be about

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loaf¹

loaf²

loaf¹

loaf²

loaf¹

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