loaf – English noun declension

English noun forms of loaf

Noun: loaf
Singularloaf
Pluralloaves

Sample Sentences

  • 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. [1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:]
  • sugar-loaf [1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “IV. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:]
  • use one's loaf
  • It is frequently said of Bertram Wooster that he is a man who can think on his feet, and if the necessity arises he can also use his loaf when on all fours. [...] “Why didn't the idiot tell her not to open it?” “It was his first move. ‘I've found a letter from you here, precious,’ she said. ‘On no account open it, angel,’ he said. So of course she opened it.” She pursed the lips, nodded the loaf, and ate a moody piece of crumpet. “So that's why he's been going about looking like a dead fish.” [1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “VIII AND XII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:]
  • It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders. [1989 November 20, Dean Hickerson, “Life: glider gun origin”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):]
  • Running a LWSS into it can produce various debris. One of these reactions produces a loaf. When the loaf is properly hit with other LWSSs, it can be pulled backwards. [1992 September 10, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 3b)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):]
  • I am looking for the smallest ancestor of the following four loaf pattern in Conway's Game of Life: [1998 January 27, Ian Osgood, “Life: looking for smallest ancestor of a quad-loaf”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):]

Etymology

1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-der.?
3. Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz
4. Proto-West Germanic *hlaib
5. Old English hlāf
6. Middle English lof
7. English loaf
8. * From Middle English laf, lof, loof, from Old English hlāf (“bread; loaf”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlaib, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz (“bread; loaf”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Old English hlifian (“to stand out prominently, tower up”).
9. Cognates
10. 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.
11. * (brain or head): Rhyming slang, ellipsis of loaf of bread. See: Middle English Nouns 'laf', Old English Nouns 'hlifian', German Nouns 'Laib', Faroese Nouns 'leivur', Icelandic Nouns 'hleifur', Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns 'leiv', Gothic Nouns '𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐍃', Finnish Nouns 'leipä', Latvian Nouns 'klaips'.

Verbs referencing "loaf"

Finnish Nouns leipä, German Nouns Laib, Russian Nouns хлеб, Danish Nouns lev, Swedish Nouns lev, Czech Nouns chléb, Gothic Nouns 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃, Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns loff, Faroese Nouns leivur, Latvian Nouns klaips, Galician Nouns gallofa.