to loaf
- verb
- /loʊf/
- Why are they loafing rather than out beating the bushes for food?
- loafing around
Anyway, today we've been watching Tik Toks and loafing.
- Anyway, today we've been watching Tik Toks and loafing.
Examples
-
Now, nobody loafs in my gym class.
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All afternoon I loafed in a cot in the nurse's office, too ashamed to return to class.
Fiction book (1996) -
Well, that you just needed time to kind of loaf around, as you put it.
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We have no time to loaf.
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Loaf around here for days on end?
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Some of you have been hanging around here for over a thousand years, and all you do is loaf and tell jokes.
Academic text (2011) -
Kid's always loafing on defense.
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Quit loafing around and let's get moving!
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So don't you think it's time to stop loafing and get a job?
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On lazy weekends, I like to loaf around and watch movies all day.
Synonyms
Spend time without any activity
To stay in a place without doing anything important
To spend time sitting and doing very little without a clear purpose
To spend time doing nothing useful
To stand or wait in a place without a clear reason
To sit or lie in a place and relax
Move around slowly in a place without any clear purpose, often in a group
To spend time relaxing and doing very little
To move around a place without a clear reason, often in a group
To sit or lie in a lazy, relaxed way
To relax and do very little
To spend time somewhere doing nothing special
Spend time doing very little or nothing
To spend time doing nothing useful
To sit and do nothing instead of working
To spend time doing very little and moving around without plans
To waste time instead of doing the work you need
To waste time doing small unimportant things
To spend time doing nothing and not working
To spend time lazily doing little or nothing
To spend time doing very little and relaxing
To spend time doing nothing in a lazy way
To waste time instead of doing something useful
To waste time doing silly or lazy things instead of useful work
Move around without a clear plan or purpose
To spend time on things that are not useful
To pass time by doing something not useful while you wait
Spend time or money on unimportant things
To waste time instead of doing something useful
Antonyms
Idioms
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- Archaic
A large hard block of sugar often shaped like a cone that people break into pieces at home
How Idle
Surface Forms
Etymology
A helpful way to remember the verb loaf, meaning 'to be idle', is to imagine someone sitting with a loaf of bread doing nothing; the verb likely grew from casual speech that linked the noun to slow, lazy behaviour. So, to loaf is to spend time lazily or do nothing productive.