ouphe

English

Alternative forms

• aulf, ouph

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈuːf/, /ˈaʊf/

Noun

ouphe (plural ouphes)

1. (obsolete) A small, often mischievous sprite; a fairy; a goblin; an elf.
   • 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]:

     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.

   • 1835, Joseph Rodman Drake, “The Culprit Fay”, in The Culprit Fa[y], published 1899, page 4:

     For an Ouphe has broken his vestal vow;
     He has loved an earthly maid,
     And left for her his woodly shade;

   • 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.