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loaf

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loaf about

To waste time idly; to spend time doing little or nothing. Chris, quit loafing about and help me take out the trash! After the stressful week that I had, I'm looking forward to just loafing about the house for the weekend.

See also: loaf

half a loaf is better than no bread

Getting less than what one wants is better than getting nothing at all. I know they're offering you less money than you'd hoped for, but at least it's a good job—half a loaf is better than no bread.

See also: better, bread, half, loaf

half a loaf is better than no loaf

Getting less than what one wants is better than getting nothing at all. I know they're offering you less money than you'd hoped for, but at least it's a good job—half a loaf is better than no loaf.

See also: better, half, loaf

Half a loaf is better than none.

Prov. Getting only part of what you want is better than not getting anything. Fred: How did your court case go? Alan: Not good. I asked for $500, and the judge only awarded me $200. Fred: Half a loaf is better than none.

See also: better, half, loaf, none

loaf around

to waste time; to idle the time away doing almost nothing. Every time I see you, you are just loafing around. I enjoy loafing around on the weekend.

See also: around, loaf

loaf something away

to waste away a period of time. You have loafed the entire day away! He loafed away the entire day.

See also: away, loaf

half a loaf

less than what is wanted or is right I didn't get everything I wanted in my contract but decided to accept half a loaf and not fight it.

Usage notes: the full form of this idiom is half a loaf is better than none (getting less than what you wanted is better than getting nothing): The new ferry service operates only on weekends, but half a loaf is better than none.

Related vocabulary: see the glass (as) half full

Etymology: based on the idea that it is better to have some bread to eat than none at all

See also: half, loaf

Half a loaf is better than none.

something that you say which means it is better to take what you are offered, even if it is less than you wanted, because it is better than nothing I only got half the salary rise I asked for, but I took it anyway on the grounds that half a loaf is better than none.

See also: better, half, loaf, none

Use your loaf.

  (British & Australian old-fashioned)

if you tell someone to use their loaf, you are telling them in a slightly angry way that they should think more carefully about what they are doing

Usage notes: In Cockney rhyming slang (= an informal kind of language used in parts of London) 'loaf' is short for 'loaf of bread' which means head.

You haven't even switched the thing on. Come on, Jamie, use your loaf!

See It's no good crying over spilt milk, turn to good account, be no good to man or beast

See also: loaf, use

half a loaf is better than none

Something is better than nothing, even if it is less than one wanted. For example, He had asked for a new trumpet but got a used one-oh well, half a loaf is better than none . This expression, often shortened, was already a proverb in 1546, where it was explicitly put: "For better is half a loaf than no bread."

See also: better, half, loaf, none