LOAF (loaves)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: loaves   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does loaf mean? 

• LOAF (noun)
  The noun LOAF has 2 senses:

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

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

  Familiarity information: LOAF used as a noun is rare.

• LOAF (verb)
  The verb LOAF has 2 senses:

1. be lazy or idle

2. be about

  Familiarity information: LOAF used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LOAF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A shaped mass of baked bread that is usually sliced before eating

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

loaf; loaf of bread

Hypernyms ("loaf" is a kind of...):

bread; breadstuff; staff of life (food made from dough of flour or meal and usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then baked)

Meronyms (parts of "loaf"):

heel (one of the crusty ends of a loaf of bread)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "loaf"):

French loaf (a loaf of French bread)

meat loaf; meatloaf (a baked loaf of ground meat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Context example:

a loaf of cheese

Hypernyms ("loaf" is a kind of...):

food; solid food (any solid substance (as opposed to liquid) that is used as a source of nourishment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "loaf"):

loaf sugar; sugar loaf; sugarloaf (a large conical loaf of concentrated refined sugar)

pound cake (rich loaf cake made of a pound each of butter and sugar and flour)

haslet (heart and liver and other edible viscera especially of hogs; usually chopped and formed into a loaf and braised)

headcheese (sausage or jellied loaf made of chopped parts of the head meat and sometimes feet and tongue of a calf or pig)

lunch meat; luncheon meat (any of various sausages or molded loaf meats sliced and served cold)

scrapple (scraps of meat (usually pork) boiled with cornmeal and shaped into loaves for slicing and frying)

• LOAF (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they loaf    ... he / she / it loafs   
Past simple: loafed   
Past participle: loafed   
-ing form: loafing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be lazy or idle

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

arse about; arse around; bum; bum about; bum around; frig around; fuck off; loaf; loll; loll around; lounge about; lounge around; waste one's time

Context example:

Her son is just bumming around all day

Hypernyms (to "loaf" is one way to...):

idle; laze; slug; stagnate (be idle; exist in a changeless situation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

loafer (person who does no work)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be about

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

footle; hang around; lallygag; linger; loaf; loiter; lollygag; lounge; lurk; mess about; mill about; mill around; tarry

Context example:

Who is this man that is hanging around the department?

Hypernyms (to "loaf" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "loaf"):

lurch; prowl (loiter about, with no apparent aim)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

He walked much, out in the hills, and loafed long hours in the quiet parks.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I accepted the gift thankfully, and bought a loaf with it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But there was no more loafing.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

In another room he saw on a table a sword and a loaf of bread, which he also took.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Wheat was at a hundred and ten shillings a quarter, and the quartern loaf at one and ninepence.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I imagine he did not think I was a beggar, but only an eccentric sort of lady, who had taken a fancy to his brown loaf.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He thinks of the loaves and fishes even when he believes he is in a Real Presence.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He walked up to the sideboard, and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, washing it down with a long draught of water.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For that matter, they were all loafing,—Buck, John Thornton, and Skeet and Nig,—waiting for the raft to come that was to carry them down to Dawson.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I look back and think, that was quite like the biblical story of the loaves and fishes, a miracle of abundance.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)