loaf

¹ American  

[lohf] / loʊf /

noun

plural

loaves

1. a portion of bread or cake baked in a shaped or molded mass, usually oblong with a rounded top.

   I try to keep a loaf of sliced bread in the freezer.

2. a shaped or molded mass of food, as of ground meat or vegetables.

   The loaf is made with lentils and vegetables, and you can see the colorful bits of bell peppers speckled through it.

3. British.

   1. the rounded head of a cabbage, lettuce, etc.

   2. Slang: Older Use. head or brains.

      Use your loaf.

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loaf ² American  

[lohf] / loʊf /

verb (used without object)

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.

   Synonyms:

   idle, loll

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verb (used with object)

1. to pass idly (usually followed byaway ).

   to loaf one's life away.

loaf ¹ British  

/ ləʊf /

noun

1. a shaped mass of baked bread

2. any shaped or moulded mass of food, such as cooked meat

3. slang the head; sense

   use your loaf!

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loaf ² British  

/ ləʊf /

verb

1. (intr) to loiter or lounge around in an idle way

2. to spend (time) idly

   he loafed away his life

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loaf Idioms  

1. see half a loaf is better than none.

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Related Words

See lounge.

Other Word Forms

• unloafing adjective

Etymology

Origin of loaf¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English lo(o)f, Old English hlāf “loaf, bread”; cognate with German Laib, Old Norse hleifr, Gothic hlaifs

Origin of loaf²

An Americanism first recorded in 1825–35; back formation from loafer

Explanation

A loaf is a delicious mass of bread. The kitchen smells great — it must be time to pull that loaf of sourdough out of the oven! If you're a lazy lover of baked goods, your dream vacation might look like this: the chance to loaf around eating one fresh-baked loaf of bread after another. The verb loaf means "laze around doing nothing," but its origin remains a mystery to word experts — although you might look like a bit like a loaf of bread when you loaf on the sofa covered in blankets.

Example Sentences

As the green of summer grew around the dome and the weather heated up, it morphed, looking more like a loaf of bread as the sides began to melt.

From Slate • Apr. 11, 2026

Or, as the writer John Updike once confessed, “I don’t like meat to look like animals. I prefer it in the form of sausages, hamburgers and meat loaf, far removed from the living thing.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

"But it won't be down to the commodity prices - if you look at the value of wheat in a loaf of bread it's very small."

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

Those jagged flakes create little air pockets throughout the loaf, keeping it tender rather than dense — plush, not packed.

From Salon • Mar. 11, 2026

Matthias lined up with the other woodland creatures to collect his food: a bowl of fresh milk, a hunk of wheaten loaf and some goatsmilk cheese.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

Related Words

• bun
• cake
• cube
• dough
• pastry
• slab