loaf

UK: /ˈləʊf/ US: /loʊf/ ,(lōf )

Inflections of 'loaf' (n): npl: loaves

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

loaf¹ /loʊf/   n. [countable] pl. loaves (lōvz).

1. Food a shaped or molded mass of bread.
2. Food a similar shaped or molded mass of food:
   a meat loaf.

loaf² /loʊf/   v. 

1. to pass time idly: [no object]
   He loafed during the summer.
   [~ + object]
   to loaf the afternoon away.

loaf•er, n. [countable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

loaf¹  (lōf ), n., pl. loaves  (lōvz). 

1. Food a portion of bread or cake baked in a mass, usually oblong with a rounded top.
2. Food a shaped or molded mass of food, as of sugar or chopped meat:
   a veal loaf.
3. British Terms
   • Food the rounded head of a cabbage, lettuce, etc.
   • Slang (older use). head or brains:
     Use your loaf.

• bef. 950; Middle English lo(o)f, Old English hlāf loaf, bread; cognate with German Laib, Old Norse hleifr, Gothic hlaifs

loaf²  (lōf ), v.i. 

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.

v.t. 

3. to pass idly (usually fol. by away):
   to loaf one's life away.

• back formation from loafer 1825–35, American.

Synonyms

• 2. loll, idle.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

loaf / ləʊf/ noun ( loaves / ləʊvz/)

1. a shaped mass of baked bread
2. any shaped or moulded mass of food, such as cooked meat
3. the head; sense: use your loaf!

Etymology: Old English hlāf; related to Old High German hleib bread, Old Norse hleifr, Latin libum cake

loaf / ləʊf/ verb

1. (intransitive) to loiter or lounge around in an idle way
2. (transitive) followed by away: to spend (time) idly: he loafed away his life

Etymology: 19th Century: perhaps back formation from loafer