Also loafe. [Of obscure origin.
Lowell’s conjecture (adopted in recent Dicts.) that the vb. is ad. Ger. dial. lofen = laufen to run, is without foundation; the Ger. vb. has not the alleged sense ‘to saunter up and down.’ G. landläufer (= LANDLOUPER) has a sense not very remote from that of loafer, but connection is not very probable.]
intr. To spend time idly. Also quasi-trans. To idle away (time).
1838. J. C. Neal, Charcoal Sk., III. ii. 34. One night, Mr. Dabbs came home from his ‘loafing’ place—for he ‘loafs’ of an evening like the generality of people—that being the most popular and the cheapest amusement extant.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xvi. Major Pawkins rather ‘loafed’ his time away, than otherwise.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xii. Men talked, and loafed, and read, and smoked.
1855. Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1884), 29. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease.
1857. C. Keene, Lett., in G. S. Layard, Life, iii. (1892), 62. My friend … fished, and I loafed about sketching.
1864. Sala, in Daily Tel., 23 Dec., 5/5. [At Niagara] You may lounge, you may loafe, you may saunter, you may moon,… but you … cannot, study.
1885. M. Pattison, Mem., 39. He allowed me to waste those two precious years in loafing about at home.
