Loaf
Verb
Pronunciation: ləUf
Etymology: of uncertain origin.
Preterite tense: loafed
Preterite participle: loafed
Present participle: loafing.
Intransitively:
Definition: to act as a loafer or idler; to be in a state in which one is idle or unoccupied in work; (of a person who ought to work) to be deliberately inactive
Synonyms: to idle, lounge, loiter
Antonyms: to toil, work
It may be approximately translated by holgar, in Spanish; oziare, in Italian; flâner, in French.
They hailed me with many sarcastic queries after my health, and the noble time they supposed I had enjoyed ashore at their expense, commiserating Ben exceedingly for having been obliged to do my work, as they said, while I had been loafing ashore.
Frank Bullen (The Log of a Sea-Waif)
Mark loafed with these fellows, drank with them, laughed at their scandalous jokes, and pretended to believe their incredible stories.
Putnam's Magazine, vol. 10
[Tom] went to the tavern, drank gin sling, loafed with the idle fellows of the town.
Merry's Museum and Parley's Magazine, Volumes 7-8
Horatio, you lout, haven't I told you a thousand times not to stand loafing with your hands in your pockets?
Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Volume 74
[…] we visited the shore in the rain, loafed in the grocery store.
Oliver Optic's Magazine, vol. 3-4
I have loafed in it [Paris] from one end to the other, and have seen the bigger part of what is worth seeing in the town itself.
Phillips brooks (letters of travel)
[…] we loafed in the hotel, talked over our plans.
Charles Marsh (Opening the Oyster)
He was such a thorough-going artist; he never loafed. In his leisure moments, which were few, he was always sketching something.
McBride's Magazine, Volume 56
Transitively:
To spend (time, etc.) in idleness or loafing
[…] his particular friend, who was loafing away the earlier half of the afternoon in Mr. Wendover's chambers, smoking Mr. Wendover's cigarette, and sipping Mr. Wendover's Apollinaris slightly coloured with brandy.
Mary Braddon (The Golden Calf)
