loaf

CEFRB1

/ləʊf/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A shaped piece of bread baked as one unit.

  2. 02

    verb

    To spend time doing nothing useful.

Examples

  • A loaf of bread is better than the songs of birds.

  • Half a loaf is better than none.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /loʊf/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Any solid block of food, such as meat or sugar.

  2. Ellipsis of loaf of bread: the brain or the head.

  3. A block of bread after baking.

More examples

In context

  • loaf about, loaf around

  • use one's loaf

  • 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.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She bought a fresh blank of bread from the bakery this morning.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Cognate with German Laib (“loaf”), Danish and Swedish lev (“loaf”), Faroese leivur (“an oblong bun”), Icelandic hleifur (“loaf”), Norwegian Nynorsk leiv (“loaf”), Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐍃 (hlaibs), 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃 (hlaifs, “bread”) (whence Proto-Slavic *xlěbъ (“bread”) (see there for further descendants)), Estonian leib (“black bread”), Finnish leipä (“bread; loaf”); also Latvian klaips (“loaf”), Lithuanian kliẽpas (“loaf”). Doublet of chleb and khleb. * (brain or head): Rhyming slang, ellipsis of loaf of bread.