loaf

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"Back of the loaf is the snowy flour, And back of the flour the mill, And back of the mill are the wheat and the shower, And the sun, and the Father's will."

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A shaped mass of bread baked in one piece.
  2. noun A shaped, usually rounded or oblong, mass of food: veal loaf.
  3. Word History
    Loaf, lord, and lady are closely related words that testify to bread's fundamental importance in the Middle Ages. Curiously, though bread was a staple food in many Indo-European cultures, loaf and its cognates occur only in the Germanic languages, and lord and lady only in English. Loaf derives from Old English hlāf, "bread, loaf of bread,” related to Gothic hlaifs, Old Norse hleifr, and Modern German Laib, all of which mean "loaf of bread.” Hlāf survives in Lammas, originally Hlāfmaesse, "Loaf-Mass,” the Christian Feast of the First Fruits, traditionally celebrated on August 1. A lord, Old English hlāford, was a compound meaning "loaf-ward, keeper of bread,” because a lord maintains and feeds his household and offers hospitality. Similarly, lady derives from Old English hlǣfdige, which became lady by 1382. The -dige comes from dæge, "kneader,” and is related to our dough. A lady, therefore, is "a kneader of bread, a breadmaker.” Lord and lady both retain vestiges of their original meanings, although England's aristocrats have not been elbow deep in flour, let alone dough, for several centuries.
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Examples (50)

  • "Back of the loaf is the snowy flour, And back of the flour the mill, And back of the mill are the wheat and the shower, And the sun, and the Father's will." —  inJesus :: Online Community :: Last posted message
  • They've also mastered a dark rye sourdough loaf, which is only carried in one grocery store in Tartu, that we once waited close to an hour for as the delivery was late (it's that good). —  The Paupered Chef
  • For years and years living in London I have been frustrated with the bread on offer - a sandwich loaf, which is basically air and possibly some flour, preservatives and E-numbers miraculously shaped into a log ... it's inedible raw, but even toasted it's hardly a thing of beauty (let alone taste!). —  thepassionatecook
  • Be careful, as the loaf should be light and airy, and is therefore prone to crumbling. —  Musings from a Stonehead
  • We believe as a matter of faith that having half a loaf is better than no loaf, and we simply assume everybody else looks at the world the same way. —  WORLDMag.com
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

biscuit ·  bread ·  pie ·  cheese ·  ham ·  slice ·  sandwich ·  sausage ·  potato ·  toast ·  bun ·  apple

Used in the same contextWord Family

loaf:   loaves ·  loafed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English lof, from Old English hlāf.
  2. Probably back-formation from loafer.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English lof,loof (plural loves), from Anglo-Saxon hlāf, bread, a loaf of bread, = Old High German hlaiba, laiba, leib, leip, Middle High German leip, German laib = Icelandic hleifr = Old Swedish lev = Danish lev = Gothic (Moesogothic) hlaifs,hlaibs, bread: the common Teutonic term for ‘bread,’ older than the word bread. The Lithuanian hlepas, Lettish klaipas, bread, are prob. from Old Bulgarian *khlebŭ = Russian khlebŭ, bread, and these Slav. forms with Finn. leipa, Esthonian leip, bread, are prob. from the Old Teutonic The word loaf appears disguised in the orig. compounds Lammas and prob. lord and lady.
  2. apparently first in the noun loafer (from German läufer = English leaper, loper); from German laufen, dial. lofen (= Dutch loopen = English leap), run, wander or lounge about: see leap, lope.
 

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/loʊf/
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