# loaf

Pronunciation: say "LOHF" US /loʊf/, UK /ləʊf/

## Noun

1. A block of bread baked as a single piece.
   - Simple: Bread that has been baked in one big piece, which you can cut into slices.
   - _He tore the warm loaf in half and handed a piece to each of the children._
   - _The bakery sells out of its sourdough loaves by noon most Saturdays._
3. Any solid block of food, such as one made of meat or sugar.
   - Simple: Any food pressed into one solid block, like meat or sugar.
   - _She pressed the ground beef and onions into a loaf and baked it for an hour._
   - _In the old storeroom sat a cone-shaped loaf of sugar wrapped in blue paper._
4. A cat sitting with its legs tucked neatly beneath its body, so that it is shaped like a loaf of bread. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A cat sitting with its legs tucked under it, so it looks like a loaf of bread.
   - _The tabby settled into a loaf on the warm laptop and refused to move._
   - _Every evening the old cat turns into a loaf at the foot of the bed._
5. A large solid block of soap, from which ordinary bars are cut.
   - Simple: A big block of soap that is cut into smaller bars.
   - _The soapmaker unmolded the loaf and sliced it into neat bars with a wire cutter._
   - _Once the loaves have hardened, they are sliced into bars and left to cure for several weeks._
6. Short for loaf of bread: the head or the brain. *(dialectal, Cockney)* — Ellipsis of loaf of bread: the brain or the head.
   - Simple: Short for loaf of bread. It means your head or brain, often in the phrase use your loaf.
   - _Come on, use your loaf; the answer's right in front of you._
   - _He cracked his loaf on the cupboard door and saw stars._
8. In cellular automata such as Conway's Game of Life, a particular still-life pattern made up of seven living cells.
   - Simple: In computer patterns like the Game of Life, a shape of seven live cells that never changes.
   - _After a few hundred generations, the chaos settled into a loaf, two blocks, and a blinker._
   - _Collisions between gliders sometimes leave a pair of loaves behind in the debris._

## Verb

2. To do nothing and pass the time idly.
   - Simple: To spend time doing nothing at all.
   - _Tourists loaf on the beach while the fishermen head out to work._
   - _Instead of studying, he loafed around the dorm playing video games._
7. To strike someone with one's head; to headbutt. *(dialectal, Cockney)*
   - Simple: To hit someone hard with your head.
   - _One of the fans loafed a steward and was arrested outside the ground._
   - _If he starts on you, he'll loaf you before you see it coming._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–8** — From Middle English lof, laf, from Old English hlāf (“bread, loaf of bread”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz (“bread, loaf”), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Old English hlifian (“to stand out prominently”). It is related to German Laib, Swedish lev, Russian khleb and Polish chleb; the sense “brain, head” is rhyming slang, short for loaf of bread.
**Meaning 2** — Probably a back-formation from loafer.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/loaf (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).