loaf
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loaf¹
- /ləʊf/ UK
- /loʊf/ US
Rhymes with -əʊf
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-der.?
Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz
Proto-West Germanic *hlaib
Old English hlāf
Middle English lof
English loaf
* From Middle English laf, lof, loof, from Old English hlāf (“bread; loaf”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlaib, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz (“bread; loaf”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Old English hlifian (“to stand out prominently, tower up”).
Cognates
Cognate with German Laib (“loaf”), Danish and Swedish lev (“loaf”), Faroese leivur (“an oblong bun”), Icelandic hleifur (“loaf”), Norwegian Nynorsk leiv (“loaf”), Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐍃 (hlaibs), 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃 (hlaifs, “bread”) (whence Proto-Slavic *xlěbъ (“bread”) (see there for further descendants)), Estonian leib (“black bread”), Finnish leipä (“bread; loaf”); also Latvian klaips (“loaf”), Lithuanian kliẽpas (“loaf”). Doublet of chleb and khleb.
* (brain or head): Rhyming slang, ellipsis of loaf of bread.
noun loaves
- A block of bread after baking. Philander went into the next room[…]and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.
- Any solid block of food, such as meat or sugar. sugar-loaf
- Ellipsis of loaf of bread: the brain or the head.loaf of bread use one's loaf
- A solid block of soap, from which standard bar soap is cut.
- A particular still life configuration with seven living cells. It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders.
- A catloaf.
verb loafs · loafing · loafed
- To headbutt
loaf²
- /ləʊf/ UK
- /loʊf/ US
Rhymes with -əʊf
Where it comes from
Probably a back-formation from loafer.
verb loafs · loafing · loafed
- To do nothing, to be idle. loaf about, loaf around
