different between nomad vs loafer

English

Etymology

From Middle French nomade, from Latin nomas (“wandering shepherd”), from Ancient Greek ????? (nomás, “roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture”), from Ancient Greek ????? (nomós, “pasture”). Compare Numidia.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n??mæd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?no?mæd/

Noun

nomad (plural nomads)

1. (anthropology) A member of a society or class who herd animals from pasture to pasture with no fixed home.
   • 1587, Philip Sidney & al. translating Philippe de Mornay as A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, viii, p. 113:

     The life of the people called the Nomads or Grazyers...

   • 2013 August, Henry Petroski, "Geothermal Energy" in American Scientist, Vol. 101, No. 4:

     Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

2. (figuratively) Synonym of wanderer: an itinerant person.
3. (figuratively) A person who changes residence frequently.
4. (figuratively, sports) A player who changes teams frequently.

Synonyms

• (wanderer): See Thesaurus:vagabond

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

nomad (comparative more nomad, superlative most nomad)

1. Synonym of nomadic.

References

• "nomad, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Anagrams

• Damon, Doman, Domna, Mando, mad on, mad-on, mando, monad

Romanian

Etymology

From French nomade. Compare Aromanian numad.

Noun

nomad m (plural nomazi)

1. nomad

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?ma?d/
• Hyphenation: no?mad

Noun

nòm?d m (Cyrillic spelling ???????)

1. nomad

Declension

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Perhaps short for landloafer, possibly a partial translation of German Landläufer (compare dialectal German loofen (“to run”), and English landlouper); or connected to Middle English love, loove, loffinge, looffinge (“a remnant, the rest, that which remains or lingers”), from Old English l?f (“remainder, residue, what is left”) (more at lave), which is akin to Scots lave (“the rest, remainder”), Old English l?fan (“to leave behind”) (more at leave).

Noun

loafer (plural loafers)

1. An idle person.
2. A shoe with no laces, resembling a moccasin.

Synonyms

• (idle person): bum, bumpkin, footler, idler, lout, yob, yobbo
• (footwear): penny loafer
• See also Thesaurus:idler

Translations

Etymology 2

From American Spanish lobo (“wolf”) (/?lo?o/), reinterpreted as or conflated with loafer (“idler”); compare the alternative forms which reflect other re-interpretations and conflations. Doublet of lupus and wolf.

Alternative forms

• lobo, lobo wolf
• lofer (wolf), lover (wolf), loper (wolf)

Noun

loafer (plural loafers)

1. (Southwestern US dialects) A wolf, especially a grey or timber wolf.

Usage notes

• Often used in compound with "wolf": "loafer wolf".

Further reading

• Robert N. Smead, Vocabulario Vaquero/Cowboy Talk: A Dictionary of Spanish Terms from the American West

Anagrams

• Florea, florae, floræ