Lofe
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An offer; choice; an opportunity; chance. Northern-England, West-Midlands
""Yance I hed t' lofe an' I'd luck to say no, an' I niver hed t' lofe ageàn."—Said by an elderly spinster."
- 1 To praise; commend. UK, dialectal, obsolete, transitive
- 2 To offer; offer at a price; expose for sale. Northern-England, West-Midlands, transitive
"Ah'd lofed him it an' he wadn't tak 't."
Example
More examples""Yance I hed t' lofe an' I'd luck to say no, an' I niver hed t' lofe ageàn."—Said by an elderly spinster."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English lofe, lof (“praise, price”), from Old English lof (“praise, glory, repute, song of praise, hymn”), from Proto-West Germanic *lob, from Proto-Germanic *lubą (“praise, permission”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love, like”) (and thence a distant cognate of English love). Cognate with Scots lofe (“an offer”), North Frisian lof (“praise”), Dutch lof (“praise, glory, commendation”), German Lob (“praise, commendation, tribute”), Icelandic lof (“praise”). For semantic development, perhaps compare etymology of praise and its senses.
Inherited from Middle English loven (“to praise, set a price on”), from Old English lofian (“to praise, exalt, appraise, value, set a price on”), from Proto-West Germanic *lobōn, from Proto-Germanic *lubōną (“to praise, vow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love, like”). Cognate with Scots loave (“to offer at a price”), North Frisian lowe (“to vow, swear”), Dutch loven (“to praise, bless, commend”), German loben (“to praise, laud, commend”), Icelandic lofa (“to promise, praise, allow”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.