Loaf

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ləʊf/
• GenAm IPA: /loÊŠf/
• Rhymes: -əʊf

From Middle English lof, laf, from Old English hlāf ("loaf, cake, bread, food, sacramental bread"), from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz ("bread, loaf"), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Old English hlīfan ("to stand out prominently, tower up"). Cognate with Scots laif ("loaf"), German Laib ("loaf"), Swedish lev ("loaf"), Russian хлеб (hleb, "bread, loaf").

Full definition of loaf

Noun

1. (also loaf of bread) A block of bread after baking.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 8, 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.
2. Any solid block of food, such as meat or sugar.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) Shortened from "loaf of bread", the brain or the head (mainly in the phrase use one's loaf).
• Wodehouse Offing|VIII and XII|It is frequently said of Bertram Wooster that he is a man who can think on his feet, and if the necessity arises he can also use his loaf when on all fours. ... “Why didn't the idiot tell her not to open it?” “It was his first move. ‘I've found a letter from you here, precious,’ she said. ‘On no account open it, angel,’ he said. So of course she opened it.” She pursed the lips, nodded the loaf, and ate a moody piece of crumpet. “So that's why he's been going about looking like a dead fish.”
4. A solid block of soap, from which standard bars are cut.

Synonyms

• (head, all slang) bonce, noddle, nut

Derived terms

Probably a Back-formation from {{3}}

Verb

1. (intransitive) To do nothing, to be idle.loaf about, loaf around.
2. (Cockney rhyming slang) To headbutt, (from loaf of bread)

Synonyms

• idle, laze, lounge

Anagrams

• AFOL, foal, Olaf