Dictionary

ouphe en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈaʊf/
• /ˈuːf/

Etymology

From the same origin as awf, oaf (“elf child”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A small, often mischievous sprite; a fairy; a goblin; an elf.
   • 1835, Review of The Culprit Fay and Other Poems by Joseph Rodman Drake and Alnwick Castle by Fitz-Greene Halleck, Southern Literary Messenger, Volume 2, page 329, The plot is as follows. An Ouphe, one of the race of Fairies, has "broken his vestal vow," […] in short, he has broken Fairy-law in becoming enamored of a mortal.
   • For an Ouphe has broken his vestal vow; He has loved an earthly maid, And left for her his woodly shade; 1835, Joseph Rodman Drake, “The Culprit Fay”, in The Culprit Fa[y], published 1899, page 4:
   • Strew good luck, ouphes, on every ſacred room, That it may ſtand 'till the perpetual Doom, In ſtate as wholſom, as in ſtate 'tis fit; Worthy the owner, as the owner it. c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:

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