I had the French loaf (4)

I believe the answer is:

idle

'loaf' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'i had the french' is the wordplay.
'i had' becomes 'id' (I'd).
'the french' becomes 'le'.
'id'+'le'='IDLE'

(Other definitions for idle that I've seen before include "Not occupied" , "Unoccupied or not in use" , "Futile" , "Disliking work" , "no longer employed?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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