loafer

loafer

English

Penny loafers

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊfə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊfɚ/
• Rhymes: -əʊfə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

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

idle person

Bulgarian: безделник (bg) m (bezdelnik) Dutch: nietsnut (nl), leegloper (nl) Finnish: tyhjäntoimittaja (fi) French: oisif (fr) m, fainéant (fr), paresseux (fr) Galician: lacazán (gl) m,preguizán (gl) m, nugallán (gl) m, galloufeiro m, guillote m, arlote m, pantrigueiro m, vacaceiro m, palanquin m, palafustrán (gl) m, calaceiro (gl) m German: Faulpelz (de) m Greek: τεμπέλης (el) m (tempélis) Hungarian: léhűtő, semmittevő (hu), naplopó (hu) Irish: liúdramán m Italian: fannullone (it) m, perditempo (it) m, perdigiorno (it) m Latin: cessātor m Macedonian: бе́зделник m (bézdelnik), безде́лница f (bezdélnica) Maori: kaihau, parakūkā, kaitahaumu, inukorokoro, kaikora, kaitahaumu, karioi Occitan: estaire, pigre (oc) m Polish: leń (pl) m, arcyleń m Portuguese: folgado (pt) m, vadio (pt) m Russian: безде́льник (ru) m (bezdélʹnik), безде́льница (ru) f (bezdélʹnica), ло́дырь (ru) m (lódyrʹ), лоботря́с (ru) m (lobotrjás), лоботря́ска (ru) f (lobotrjáska), лентя́й (ru) m (lentjáj), лентя́йка (ru) f (lentjájka), лежебо́ка (ru) m or f (ležebóka) Spanish: haragán (es) m, gandul (es) m, holgazán (es) m, comodón Swahili: lofa (sw)

footwear

Chinese: Cantonese: 懶佬鞋, 懒佬鞋 (laan5 lou2 haai4) Finnish: louferi (fi) French: mocassin (fr) m Galician: mocasín m German: Loafer m, Slipper (de) m Indonesian: pantofel (id) Irish: lófaire m Italian: mocassino (it) m Navajo: kébiiʼníʼdíʼisí Polish: loafersy (pl) m pl Portuguese: sapatilha (pt) f Spanish: mocasín (es) m

Verb

loafer (third-person singular simple present loafers, present participle loafering, simple past and past participle loafered)

1. (dialect) To loaf around; to be idle.

Etymology 2

From American Spanish lobo (“wolf”) (/ˈloβo/), 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.
   • 1964, Ike Blasingame, Dakota Cowboy: My Life in the Old Days, page 72:

     The great menace to livestock, other than the continual battle with cold, [...] was the gray wolf. [...] The big loafers came in from everywhere.

   • 2010, Cynthia K. Rhodes, Lucille Mulhall: An Athlete of Her Time, →ISBN:

     Cowboys had killed “loafers” at five hundred yards away with rifles. [...] Lucille was not like most cowhands and she sets out to capture the "loafer" with her lariat.

   • 2016, Patrick Dearen, A Cowboy of the Pecos, page 128:

     By the 1890s loafers had become such a problem that some newly organized counties, as well as certain cattle outfits, paid bounties for their scalps. For a cowboy making a dollar or so a day, wolf-hunting could be lucrative.

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

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Finnish

Etymology

< English loafer

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlou̯fer/, [ˈlo̞u̯fe̞r]

Noun

loafer

1. Synonym of louferi (“loafer”).

Declension

Inflection of loafer (Kotus type 6/paperi, no gradation)
nominative		loafer	loaferit
genitive		loaferin	loaferien loafereiden loafereitten
partitive		loaferia	loafereita loafereja
illative		loaferiin	loafereihin
		singular	plural
nominative		loafer	loaferit
accusative	nom.	loafer	loaferit
	gen.	loaferin
genitive		loaferin	loaferien loafereiden loafereitten
partitive		loaferia	loafereita loafereja
inessive		loaferissa	loafereissa
elative		loaferista	loafereista
illative		loaferiin	loafereihin
adessive		loaferilla	loafereilla
ablative		loaferilta	loafereilta
allative		loaferille	loafereille
essive		loaferina	loafereina
translative		loaferiksi	loafereiksi
instructive		—	loaferein
abessive		loaferitta	loafereitta
comitative		—	loafereineen

Possessive forms of loafer (type paperi)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	loaferini	loaferimme
2nd person	loaferisi	loaferinne
3rd person	loaferinsa