ˈsugar-loaf
[f. sugar n. + loaf n.1 3.]
1. A moulded conical mass of hard refined sugar (now rarely made).
| 1422 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 59 In 1 Sugyrlaffe, 8s. 4d. 1452 Paston Lett. I. 236, I pray yow that ye woll vouchesaff to send me an other sugor loff, for my old is do. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 380 Teneriffa is..a greate hyghe picke lyke a suger lofe. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. i. 69 b, Wearing on their heads a hygh yealow hatte made after the fashion of a suger loofe. 1604 [? Chettle] Wit of Woman G 4, Giue the gentlewoman a leashe of angells, to buy a sugar loafe. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxxiii. 247 A Gardiner's watering Pot shap'd conically, or like a Sugar-Loaf. 1707 Lady G. Baillie Househ. Bk. (S.H.S.) 69 For a suger lofe {pstlg}3. 7s. 6d. 1800 B. Moseley Treat. Sugar (ed. 2) 113 The blue paper for covering sugar-loaves. 1835 App. Munic. Corpor. Rep. iv. 2896 (Kingston-upon-Thames), The High Steward..is entitled to 18 sugar loaves every year. These are worth about 9l., and are usually distributed in charity. 1876 W. H. G. Kingston Banks Amazon 112 The snow-capped, truncated peak of Cotopaxi, looking like a vast sugar-loaf. |
2. transf. A thing having the shape of a sugar-loaf.
a. Usually
sugar-loaf-hat (see 3): A conical hat, pointed, rounded or flat at the top, worn during the Tudor and Stuart periods and after the French Revolution.
| 1607 Dekker & Webster Westw. Hoe v. iii, Do not I know you, grannam? and that sugar-loaf? |
b. A high conical hill.
| a 1691 Boyle Hist. Air (1692) 184 Till they arrived at the top of the sugar-loaf, or highest pile of the mountain. 1715 Phil. Trans. XXIX. 318 The white Cloud still hiding the greatest part of the Sugar-loaf [sc. Teneriffe]. 1862 Chambers' Encycl. IV. 745/2 The rock [of Gibraltar], at its highest point, the Sugar Loaf, attains an elevation of 1439 feet above the sea. 1879 Stevenson Trav. Donkey (1886) 30 The outline of a wooded sugar-loaf in black. |
c. A kind of cabbage.
| 1766 Complete Farmer 7 P 4/1, I have not one cabbage this year of the sort I intended to have; what I have being chiefly sugar-loaf, the seedsman having deceived me. 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 28 Apr. 1777 The savoys and sugar-loaves were soon gone. 1842 E. J. Lance Cottage Farmer 15 When you plant out your cabbages at the outset, first put a row of early Yorks, then a row of Sugar-loafs. |
d. A variety of pine-apple,
Ananas pyramidalis.
| 1796 Nemnich Polyglot.-Lex. vi. 910 Sugar-loaf pineapple, Bromelia ananas. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 600 The Brown Sugar-loaf. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 343 The sweeter and more juicy ‘sugar-loaf’ is preferred in England. |
e. A species of fossilized sea-urchin.
| 1862 Chambers' Encycl. IV. 578/1 Galerites. [The name] popularly given to them..‘Sugar-loaves’, is descriptive of the elongated and more or less conical shape of their shell. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. Shaped like or otherwise resembling a sugar-loaf, as
sugar-loaf bonnet,
sugar-loaf button,
sugar-loaf cabbage (see 2 c),
sugar-loaf cap,
sugar-loaf cornea,
sugar-loaf crown,
sugar-loaf eminence,
sugar-loaf hat (see 2 a),
sugar-loaf head,
sugar-loaf hill (see 2 b),
sugar-loaf mountain (see 2 b),
sugar-loaf pine (see 2 d),
sugar-loaf pippin,
sugar-loaf rock,
sugar-loaf-shape,
sugar-loaf stone,
sugar-loaf-stump,
sugar-loaf yew; used for sugar-loaves or loaf-sugar, as
sugar-loaf form,
sugar-loaf mould,
sugar-loaf paper; parasynthetic and similative, as
sugar-loaf-like,
sugar-loaf-shaped adjs.;
sugar-loaf page, a page wearing sugar-loaf buttons;
sugar-loaf sea, ‘high turbulent waves with little wind’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
sugar-loaf tool, a tool with an end of conical shape used in seal-engraving to smooth the surfaces of shields.
| 1885 Dillon Fairholt's Cost. in Eng. I. 403 The high *sugar-loaf bonnet of the French peasants. |
| 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. vi, A small white-faced boy, who was called ‘page’ to aunt Eleanor..who..wore..two hundred and forty-eight white *sugar-loaf buttons on his jacket. |
| 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 130 *Sugar-loaf cabbage. 1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 75/1 Salads go to market as soon as they are of sufficient size, and sugar-loaf cabbages succeed them. |
| 1809 Malkin Gil Blas xii. i. ¶3 *Sugar-loaf caps of paper. |
| 1885 Dillon Fairholt's Cost. in Eng. II. 237 The tall *sugar-loaf crown and broad brim. |
| 1867 Chambers' Encycl. IX. 192/1 When it has been sufficiently concentrated..it is run into the *sugar-loaf forms. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 165/1 Apex,..a *suger-loafe hat: a coppid tanke hat. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. xviii. (1860) 402 He usually wore a high sugar-loaf hat with a narrow brim. 1885 Dillon Fairholt's Cost. in Eng. I. 402 He wears the high sugar-loaf hat in which the revolutionary heroes..enshrined their evil heads. |
| 1793 Holcroft tr. Lavater's Physiog. xx. 102 All Indians with flat or *sugar-loaf heads. |
| 1799 Malthus Diary 9 July (1966) 131 We..saw Doverfield..with his *sugar loaf hills covered with snow. 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) II. App. 5 A beautiful little sugar loaf hill. 1859 D. Bunce Travels with Dr. Leichhardt iv. 29 There are two lofty sugar-loaf hills..which may be seen from Hobart Town. 1969 Sugar loaf hill [see favela]. |
| 1688 Holme Armoury iii. i. 11/1 They wear their Hats higher in the Crown (*Sugar Loafe like)..then Men do. |
| Ibid. xxii. (Roxb.) 280/2 A great *Sugar loaf Mould. |
| 1866 Chambers' Encycl. VIII. 269/1 The peak called, from its peculiar shape, *Sugar-loaf Mountain. |
| 1837 Thackeray Ravenswing v, The *sugar-loaf page asked whether master was coming home early. |
| 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 96 Blue *sugar-loaf paper. |
| 1796 Nemnich Polyglot.-Lex. vi. 958 *Sugar-loaf pine, Ananas pyramidalis. |
| 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 533 Dessert apples... *Sugarloaf Pippin, Wormsley Pippin. |
| 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 384 A *Sugar-Loaf Rock above Water. |
| 1852 Burn Naval & Milit. Dict. ii. (1863) 276/2 *Sugar-loaf sea, mer clapoteuse. |
| 1849 Cupples Green Hand xiv, The *sugar-loaf shape of the headland. |
| 1885 Dillon Fairholt's Cost. in Eng. I. 183 A *sugar-loaf-shaped erection of red cloth. |
| 1789 J. Williams Min. Kingd. II. 129 The..hard, granulated, *sugar-loaf-stone. |
| 1876 Dunglison Med. Lex., *Sugarloaf Stump, a conical shape assumed by the stump after amputation..due to excessive muscular retraction. |
| 1756 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) III. 435 The gardens seem to be laid out in the old-fashioned way of mince-pies, arbours, and *sugarloaf yews. |
Hence
ˈsugar-loafed (
† -loaved)
ppl. a., shaped like a sugar-loaf.
| 1702 W. J. tr. Bruyn's Voy. Levant xl. 156 A sort of Sugar-loaved Hats. 1842 Thackeray Fitz-Boodle's Prof. Wks. 1898 IV. 346 A jacket covered with sugar-loafed buttons. 1872 Baker Nile Trib. ix. 148 A steep sugar-loafed hill. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 556/1 The bassinet was now worn beneath the huge sugar-loafed helm. |