oaf
[ohf]
- a clumsy, stupid person; lout.
- a simpleton; dunce; blockhead.
- Archaic.
- a deformed or mentally deficient child.
- a changeling.
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Origin of oaf
1615–25; variant of auf, Middle English alfe, Old English ælf elf; cognate with German Alp nightmare
Synonyms
See more synonyms for oaf on Thesaurus.com1. churl, boor. 2. dolt, ninny.
Synonym study
1. See boorish.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for oafish
Contemporary Examples
The political mutterings of oafish celebrities are best ignored.
It was an appropriate response: violent oafs should be fired from their university jobs for violent, oafish behavior.
Historical Examples
Didn't he have enough self-control just to ignore Symes and his oafish insults?
Pagan PassionsGordon Randall Garrett
He was blaming himself bitterly now for his oafish clumsiness in blurting out the news so abruptly.
The Adventures of SallyP. G. Wodehouse
He looked like an oafish clod, even viewed objectively, and Forrester was making no efforts in that direction.
Pagan PassionsGordon Randall Garrett
oaf
- a stupid or loutish person
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Word Origin
C17: variant of Old English ælf elf
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for oafish
oaf
n.
1620s, auf, oph (modern form from 1630s), "a changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies" [Johnson], from a Scandinavian source, cf. Norwegian alfr "silly person," in Old Norse, "elf" (see elf). Hence, "a misbegotten, deformed idiot." Until recently, some dictionaries still gave the plural as oaves.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper