noun General Slang

Loaf Of Bread

/ˌləʊf əv ˈbrɛd/ · noun · slang

Cockney for head — 'loaf of bread' rhymes with head, behind the phrase 'use your loaf'.

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Definitions

1

The head. 'Loaf of bread' rhymes with 'head', and is clipped to 'loaf' — the source of the common phrase 'use your loaf', meaning use your head.

“Use your loaf and lock the door behind you.”
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2

Used of thinking things through or, literally, of the head itself.

“I banged my loaf on the low beam.”
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3

Clipped to 'loaf', one's brains or common sense.

“He's got nothing in his loaf, that one.”
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Loaf Of Bread In A Sentence

Come on, use your loaf for once.
He cracked his loaf of bread on the cupboard door.
There's not much going on in his loaf, sad to say.

Origin & Usage

Twentieth-century East End rhyming slang on 'head'; the clipped 'use your loaf' became a national idiom and is one of rhyming slang's most successful exports, growing from the London tradition Hotten documented in 1859.

Variants loaf
Tags #cockney#rhyming#british#uk#body

People Also Ask

What does loaf of bread mean?

It's Cockney rhyming slang for head. 'Bread' rhymes with 'head', shortened to 'loaf'.

Is 'use your loaf' from this?

Yes — 'use your loaf' means 'use your head', straight from 'loaf of bread' for head.

Where did loaf of bread come from?

From twentieth-century East End speech; 'use your loaf' spread far beyond London into everyday English.

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