loafing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of loaf.

   Half the crew was loafing in the shade while the foreman was away.

   Loafing on the beach all afternoon was exactly what she needed after finals.

   Note

   Two jobs fall to this form: a participle after be (the crew was loafing in the shade) and a gerund that acts as a noun (loafing on the beach was what she needed). It almost always belongs to the idle verb, which usually takes no object beyond a stretch of time, as in loafing the afternoon away. A Cockney dialect verb meaning to headbutt shares the spelling and takes a person: loafing someone means butting them with the head.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The idle behavior of someone who loafs, spending time doing nothing in particular.

   The coach would not tolerate loafing at practice, and anyone caught walking ran extra laps.

   A summer of loafing by the lake left him rested but far behind on his reading.

   Similaridling, lounging, idleness

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of a cat sitting with its legs tucked neatly beneath its body, so that it is shaped like a loaf of bread.

   The tabby has perfected loafing, folding all four paws beneath her chest until she looks like a bread roll.

   The shelter's photo feed is mostly loafing: cats on shelves and windowsills with their paws folded out of sight.

   Note

   Short for catloafing, it plays on the slang loaf for a cat folded into the shape of a bread loaf. The word names a shape rather than a mood, which sets it apart from plain idleness: a loafing cat is tucked up with its paws hidden, awake or not. It belongs to light, informal talk about pets.

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