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Glite Dictionary
sugarloaf

sugarloaf

1 9.6
A large cone of hard white sugar sold in the past
  • noun
  • /ˈʃʊɡərˌloʊf/
  • Archaic
: pan de azúcar

Examples

  • He wore a hat, a black wool relic with a sugarloaf crown.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • On April 2nd, the foretop lookout of Boudeuse sighted a towering peak shaped like a sugarloaf and rising sheerly out of the ocean.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • You suddenly notice that the Apu, the sacred mountain of Machu Picchu, which is a sugarloaf mountain many of you climbed, Huayna Picchu, and the light that falls in the face of Intiwantana constantly reflects a little that is at the face of the Apu.

    Blog text (31)

  • The chef shaped the cake into a sugarloaf before decorating it with icing.

  • In the old market, I saw a sugarloaf that was beautifully wrapped for sale.

  • The recipe called for a piece of sugarloaf to sweeten the dessert naturally.

Synonyms

lump sugar
vssugarloaf
  • UK
2 1.6

Sugar shaped into small cubes that you put in drinks to make them sweet

means a large cone-shaped bulk form rather than small cubes
sugar loaf
vssugarloaf
  • Archaic
1 8.8

A large solid cone of white sugar sold in the past

has identical meaning but is written as one word
loaf sugar
vssugarloaf
  • Archaic
1 9.3

A large hard block of sugar often shaped like a cone that people break into pieces at home

focuses on the cone shape as the traditional retail form

Surface Forms

sugarloaf singular
sugarloaves plural

Morphology

sugarloaf = sugar + loaf (semi-transparent) = sugar + loaf

Formed from 'sugar' + 'loaf' so components are recognizable, but the historical, cone-shaped manufactured form is a specialized/historical sense that learners may not predict exactly.

Etymology

Sugarloaf comes from the old practice of pressing refined sugar into a hard loaf; loaf here means 'bread', and the sugar was sold as a cone-shaped block people could chip apart. That's why sugarloaf means a large, cone-shaped mass of sugar.