喜樂美語

核心畫面

A whole baked block of bread, still in one piece, before anyone has cut it. Not a roll, not a slice — one solid shaped lump that came out of the oven as a single thing, and that you will later cut across into slices. The picture holds two ideas at once: baked into one block, and meant to be cut up.

剛從烤箱端出來、還沒切開的一整條麵包。不是小圓餐包，也不是切好的片，而是一整塊完整的、有形狀的東西——當初是整團進烤…更多收起剛從烤箱端出來、還沒切開的一整條麵包。不是小圓餐包，也不是切好的片，而是一整塊完整的、有形狀的東西——當初是整團進烤箱、整條出來的，之後你才拿刀橫著一片一片切下來。這個畫面裡同時裝了兩件事：烤成一整塊，以及打算拿來切片。所以英文才會說 a loaf of bread（一整條）對上 a slice of bread（一片）。

Three branches

烤成一整塊、切片來吃的東西

這一族抓的是「形狀」而不是「材料」：只要是壓成一整條、烤好之後橫切成片的，英文就給它 loaf 這個名字，裡面裝的是麵粉還是絞肉都可以。

a whole baked bread · noun · A2

Bread that has been shaped and baked in one whole piece, which you then cut into slices. You can count loaves: one loaf, two loaves.

一條麵包

俚語裡的 loaf：腦袋

這是從核心的「一整塊圓圓的東西」開的一條俚語支線，靠外形的聯想接上去；但它已經被鎖在一個片語裡，不能自由使用。

use your loaf · noun · C1

Used only in the phrase 'use your loaf', a friendly way of telling someone to stop and think more carefully about what they are doing. In this phrase, loaf means your head.

腦袋（只用在 use your loaf）

動詞：把時間放著不用

這條線走的是另一條歷史路徑，跟麵包沒有可靠的關聯。硬要說「像麵包一樣攤在那裡」很好記，但那是後人編的聯想，不是這個字真正的來源，所以這裡另立一族處理。

spend time doing nothing · verb · B2

To spend time in a place without doing very much, especially at a time when you could be doing something useful. Almost always used with around or about: loaf around, loaf about.

閒晃；遊手好閒

原始詞典資料8 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

loafnoun詞源 1/ləʊf/

  • 1

    A block of bread after baking.

    • Philander went into the next room[…]and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.
  • 2

    Any solid block of food, such as meat or sugar.

    • sugar-loaf
  • 3

    A solid block of soap, from which standard bar soap is cut.

  • 4

    cellular-automatacomputingengineeringA particular still life configuration with seven living cells.

    • It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders.
    • Running a LWSS into it can produce various debris. One of these reactions produces a loaf. When the loaf is properly hit with other LWSSs, it can be pulled backwards.
  • 5

    slanginformalA catloaf.

loafverb詞源 1/ləʊf/

  • 1

    slangTo headbutt

loafverb詞源 2/ləʊf/

  • 1

    To do nothing, to be idle.

    • loaf about, loaf around
    • 2015, Elizabeth Royte, Vultures Are Revolting. Here’s Why We Need to Save Them., National Geographic (December 2015)https://web.archive.org/web/20151213095110/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/vultures-text They don’t (often) kill other animals, they probably form monogamous pairs, and we know they share parental care of chicks, and loaf and bathe in large, congenial groups.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。