Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who is habitually idle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An idle man, lounger, or aimless stroller, of whatever social condition; specifically, one who is too lazy to work or pursue regular business, and lounges about, depending upon chance or disreputable means for subsistence.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who loafs; a lazy lounger.
  • noun A type of shoe without laces which can be easily slipped on or off; -- originally a trademark.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An idle person.
  • noun trademark A shoe with no laces, resembling a moccasin.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a low leather step-in shoe; the top resembles a moccasin but it has a broad flat heel
  • noun person who does no work

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for obsolete land-loafer, vagabond, idler, possibly partial translation of obsolete German Landläufer, from Middle High German landlöufer : land, land + löufer, runner (from loufen, to run, from Old High German hlouffan).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps short for landloafer, possibly a partial translation of German Landläufer [Cf Dial Ger loofen "to run"]; or connected to Middle English lo(o)ve, lo(o)ffinge "a remnant, the rest, that which remains or lingers" from Old English lāf ("remainder, residue, what is left"). Akin to Scots lave "the rest, remainder", Old English lǣfan "to leave behind". More at leave

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Examples

  • After eight years of the so-called K Street Project — the effort by Republican lawmakers and operatives to pressure companies, trade associations and lobbying firms to hire their fellow Republicans — the tasseled loafer is on the other foot.

    Supply and Demand for Lobbyists 2008

  • After eight years of the so-called K Street Project — the effort by Republican lawmakers and operatives to pressure companies, trade associations and lobbying firms to hire their fellow Republicans — the tasseled loafer is on the other foot.

    Archive 2008-11-01 2008

  • Just as FrenchCanadian has borrowed Americanisms that are loan-words from other immigrant tongues, e. g., bum and loafer from the German, so some of the South American dialects have borrowed rapidas (= rapids), and kimono, the first brought into American from the French and the second from the Japanese.

    Appendix 2. Non-English Dialects in America. 3. Spanish Henry Louis 1921

  • Also wot you call loafer: 'e do not work wen' e wish not to.

    The Best Short Stories of 1915 And the Yearbook of the American Short Story Various 1915

  • Propped against the wall on a thin Italian loafer, he was black and hadn’t said anything except to introduce himself.

    html Scottoline, Lisa 2001

  • Propped against the wall on a thin Italian loafer, he was black and hadn’t said anything except to introduce himself.

    Courting Trouble Scottoline, Lisa 1993

  • Generally known as a loafer, suspected of boosting for so-called 'wire-tappers' operating on upper West Side last spring.

    The Auction Block Rex Ellingwood Beach 1913

  • Reformer, for a loafer was my detestation, and behold!

    An Autobiography Besant, Annie 1893

  • In the larrikin he will not be able to discover a new species, but only an old one met elsewhere, and variously called loafer, rough, tough, bummer, or blatherskite, according to his geographical distribution.

    Following the Equator, Part 2 Mark Twain 1872

  • In the larrikin he will not be able to discover a new species, but only an old one met elsewhere, and variously called loafer, rough, tough, bummer, or blatherskite, according to his geographical distribution.

    Following the Equator Mark Twain 1872

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