different between foal vs loaf

English

Etymology

From Middle English fole, from Old English fola, from Proto-West Germanic *fol?, from Proto-Germanic *fulô, from pre-Germanic *pl?Hon-, from Proto-Indo-European *p?lH- (“animal young”) (cognate with Saterland Frisian Foole, West Frisian fôle, foalle, Dutch veulen, German Low German Fohl, German Fohlen, Swedish fåle; compare also Ancient Greek ????? (pôlos), Latin pullus, Albanian pelë (“mare”), Old Armenian ??? (ul, “kid, fawn”). Related to filly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??l/, /f??l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fo?l/
• Rhymes: -??l

Noun

foal (plural foals)

1. A young horse or other equine, especially just after birth or less than a year old.
2. (mining, historical) A young boy who assisted the headsman by pushing or pulling the tub.

Translations

Verb

foal (third-person singular simple present foals, present participle foaling, simple past and past participle foaled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To give birth to (a foal); to bear offspring.
   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:

     All the time, our overfraught hearts are beating at a rate that would far outstrip the fastest gallop of the fastest horses ever foaled.

   • 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, Chapter 22^[1]:

     "Well," said John, "I don't believe there is a better pair of horses in the country, and right grieved I am to part with them, but they are not alike; the black one is the most perfect temper I ever knew; I suppose he has never known a hard word or a blow since he was foaled, and all his pleasure seems to be to do what you wish […]

Translations

See also

• colt
• filly
• horseling
• mare
• stallion

Anagrams

• AFOL, Olaf, loaf

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l??f/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /lo?f/
• Rhymes: -??f

Etymology 1

From Middle English lof, laf, from Old English hl?f (“loaf, cake, bread, food, sacramental bread”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlaib, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz (“bread, loaf”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Old English hlifian (“to stand out prominently, tower up”). Cognate with Scots laif (“loaf”), German Laib (“loaf”), Swedish lev (“loaf”), Russian ???? (xleb, “bread, loaf”).

Noun

loaf (plural loaves)

2. (also loaf of bread) A block of bread after baking.
3. Any solid block of food, such as meat or sugar.

   • sugar-loaf

4. (Cockney rhyming slang) Shortened from "loaf of bread", the brain or the head (mainly in the phrase use one's loaf).
5. A solid block of soap, from which standard bars are cut.

Synonyms

• (head, all slang): bonce, noddle, nut

Derived terms

Translations

References

• (soap) Miller, J.L. "Customers believe in downstate Soap Fairy", The News Journal, B10, January 10, 2006.

Etymology 2

Probably a back-formation from loafer.

Verb

loaf (third-person singular simple present loafs, present participle loafing, simple past and past participle loafed)

1. (intransitive) 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)[1]

     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.

2. (Cockney rhyming slang) To headbutt, (from loaf of bread)

Synonyms

• idle, laze, lounge

Translations

Anagrams

• AFOL, Olaf, foal