Pl. loaves. Forms: sing. 1 hláf, 3–4 laf, 3–5 lof, 4–5 loof, (4 lhoue), 5 layf, Sc. lafe, loofe, looff, 5–6 lofe, loffe, 6–7 loafe, 8 Sc. leaf, 7– loaf; pl. 1 hláfas, 3 Orm. lafess, 3–4, 6 Sc. laves, 4 lafes, lavis, -ys, Sc. lafis, lawis, 3–7 loves, 4–5 lofes, looves, 4 lofis, lovis, loovys, 5 loofes, looffis, lovys, Sc. laffis, 7 loafs, loafes, 6– loaves. [Com. Teut.: OE. hláf masc. = OHG. and MHG. leip, inflected leib-, bread, loaf (mod.G. laib, also written leib, loaf), ON. hleif-f loaf (Da., MSw. lev), Goth. hlaif-s bread (whence ga-hlaiba messmate, comrade, = OHG. gileipo, which seems to have suggested the equivalent late L. compānio COMPANION):—OTeut. *hlaiƀo-z.
Whether the sense of ‘bread’ or that of ‘loaf’ is the earlier is uncertain, as the ulterior etymology is obscure. For many doubtful conjectures see Uhlenbeck Gotische Etymologie s.v. hlaifs. Some have suggested connection with OE. hlífian to rise high, tower, the reference being supposed to be to the ‘rising’ of leavened bread. Outside Teut. the following synonymous words are certainly in some way connected (most probably adopted from Teut.): OSl. xlěbŭ (Russian хлѣбъ), Lith. klêpas, Lettish klaips, Finnish leipā, Esthonian leip. It has been supposed by some that the initial element in G. lebkuchen, lebzelter, gingerbread, is an ablaut-variant of this word.]
1. Bread. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. vi. 11. Hlaf userne ofer wistlic sel us todæʓ.
c. 1050. Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia (1885), VIII. 322. And eton hiʓ þeorfne hlaf mid grenum lactucam.
a. 1175. Cott. Hom., 227. He hi afedde feortiȝ wintre mid hefenlice hlafe.
1821. Hunter’s MS., in Sheffield Gloss., s.v., People say ‘some loaf,’ as well as ‘some bread.’
fig. c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John vi. 48. Ic am hlaf lifes.
2. A portion of bread baked in one mass; one of the portions, of uniform size and shape, into which a batch of bread is divided. Also with qualifying word, as barley, bran, cottage, household, tin, tinned loaf, for which see the first element. Brown loaf, a loaf of BROWN BREAD. White loaf, a loaf made of wheaten flour only.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xiv. 17. Nabbas we her buta fif hlafum & tuoeʓ fisces.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11788. Þurrh þatt te laþe gast himm badd Off staness makenn lafess.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 227/283. Ane wel faire ȝwite lof.
1340. Ayenb., 82. Þe wyfman grat myd childe þet more hi uynt smak in ane zoure epple þanne ine ane huetene lhoue.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 69. How many hynen in my fadirs hous ben ful of loves, and Y perishe here for hungre.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. X. 150. A loof oþer half a loof oþer a lompe of chese.
a. 1400. Prymer (1891), 64 (Ps. cxxxii. 15). His poore y schal fylle wiþ lofes.
c. 1440. Douce MS. 55 lf. 6 b. Take a lofe of white brede & stepp hit with the brothe.
1485. in Descr. Cal. Anc. Deeds, I. (1890), 358. And iiij loves of the secunde brede wekely, every love weyng too pondes.
1562. Bulleyn, Bk. Simples, 13 b. The best bread is that, that is of a daie old and the loves or manchedes, maie neither be great nor little.
1611. Bible, 2 Kings iv. 42. Bread of the first fruits, twentie loaues of barley.
a. 1643. W. Cartwright, Lady-Errant, V. i. Plays (1651), 66. Just as so much Quicksilver Is put into hot loves, to make ’em dance As long as th’ heat continues.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., II. VI. 33. It was the custom to make one great loaf.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxviii. Bread was the scarcest article at the banquet, but the Glover and his patron Niel were served with two small loaves.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 243. Kneading the flour, making noble puddings and loaves.
fig. 1650. Trapp, Comm. Num. xxiii. 1. A loafe of the same leaven, was that resolute Rufus.
Proverbial. 1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 30. For better is halfe a lofe than no bread.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., II. i. 87. Easie it is Of a cut loafe to steale a shiue we know.
1687. Good Advice, 43. And then she will think that half a Loaf had been better then no Bread.
1758. Chesterf., Lett. to Son, 13 June (1892), III. 1227. The lady has wanted a man so long, that she now compounds for half a one. Half a loaf—.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar Tongue, s.v., To be in bad loaf, to be in a disagreeable situation, in trouble.
b. † Assize loaf, a loaf of the weight fixed by the assize of bread (31 Geo. II. c. 29). † Church loaf = HOLY LOAF. † Prized loaf, a loaf of the price fixed by the assize of bread. † St. Stephen’s loaf, a stone. Also HOLY LOAF.
1499. Churchw. Acc. Croscombe (Som. Rec. Soc.), 24. Paid W. Toyt for tyndyng of the lyght and the church loffe.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, V. ix. He took up one of St. Stephens’s Loaves, alias a Stone, and was going to hit him with it.
1762. Act 3 Geo. III., c. 11. No Assize Loaves of the Price of three Pence, and prized Loaves called Half Quartern Loaves,… shall … in any Place be made for Sale [etc.].
c. Loaves and fishes (fig. phr., after John vi. 26): pecuniary advantages as a motive for religious profession (or, occas., for display of public spirit); the emoluments of ecclesiastical office.
1614. Bp. Hall, Recoll. Treat., 954. If it were not for the loaves and fishes, the traine of Christ would bee lesse.
1799. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), IV. 300. Their seducers have wished war … for the loaves and fishes which arise out of war expenses.
1823. Byron, Age of Bronze, xiv. ‘The loaves and fishes,’ once so high, Are gone.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, I. x. Any clergyman … whose loaves and fishes are scanty.
d. Oyster, mushroom loaf: The crust of a loaf or roll of bread filled with a stuffing of oysters or mushrooms.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, 99. To make Oyster-Loaves.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 287. To make Mushroom Loaves.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, I. iv. A dish of oyster loaves.
3. A molded conical mass of sugar; a sugar-loaf. (Cf. LOAF-SUGAR.)
1363–4. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 566. In ix lb. Sucr. de Sipr. empt. in uno laf apud Ebor. Ibid. (1373–4), 578. In ij lafes de Sugour ponder. xxiij lib. quarteron empt…. xlvijs. iiijd. Ibid. (1440–1), 78. Item j layf de suggir, iiijs. vjd.
1556. W. Towrson, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 98. The isle of Tenerif, otherwise called the Pike, because it is a very high Island with a pike vpon the toppe like a loafe of Sugar.
1654. Evelyn, Diary, 27 June. Here [at Bristol] I first saw the manner of refining suggar and casting it into loaves.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., Pref. 9. Refined loaves.
† 4. A mass or lump (of anything). Obs.
1598. Florio, Phigethlo, a little swelling hard and red,… our chirurgions do call it a little loafe or manchet.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. xii. 244. They put all the mettall into a cloth, which they straine out,… and the rest remaines as a loafe of silver.
1611. Cotgr., Pain de moustarde, a loafe, or ball, of drie, or dried mustard.
1694. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens., 504/2. The Cakes [sc. of corrosive sublimate] … they call Loaves.
5. A ‘head’ (of a cabbage).
[1585: implied in LOAFED.]
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U. S. (1822), 113. All the plants from the English seed produced solid loaves by the 24th of June. Ibid. (1829), Eng. Gard., § 129. When it [the cabbage] makes its loaf in the summer, you cut the loaf off…. In a month after cutting the head, the stump should be taken up.
6. attrib. and Comb., as loaf basket; objective, as loaf-giver; similative, as loaf-shaped adj.; † loaf-cabbage, a cabbage with a ‘loaf’ or head.
1891. Daily News, 6 March, 3/7. The bread boy bears the *loaf basket.
1727. S. Switzer, Pract. Gardiner, III. xxiii. 131. That which … comes in just as *loaf cabbages decay.
1733. Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., 19. Some have lost their Lives by Toads, being accidentally boil’d in the folds of a Loaf-Cabbage.
1882. Edna Lyall, Donovan, ix. A moral song … in which a charitable *loafgiver is represented.
1890. H. Latham, Pastor Pastorum, v. 129. Our Lord was hungry, and *loaf-shaped stones were lying all about Him.
