oaf

noun \ ˈōf \

Examples: oaf in a Sentence

Editor's Note: oaf Has a Fanciful History

Definition of oaf

plural oafs

1 : a stupid person : boob

a thoughtless, clueless oaf
—New York Times

2 : a big clumsy slow-witted person

Get out of my way, you big oaf.

—

oafish

play \ˈō-fish\ adjective

—

oafishly

adverb

—

oafishness

noun

See oaf defined for English-language learners

See oaf defined for kids

oaf was our Word of the Day on 02/27/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of oaf in a Sentence

it's not polite to call your brother a stupid oaf
anyone who took him for an oaf and tried to cheat him would be in for a nasty surprise

Recent Examples of oaf from the Web

For us straight dudes, however, being big and hairy means getting thought of as an ape—a big, dumb, smelly oaf.

— dan savage, Chicago Reader, "‘How does one get into the gay BDSM bottoming scene?’," 7 Feb. 2018
In Fitzpatrick, Doyle has created an extraordinarily creepy antagonist: a bully who plays dumb but always gets under the hero’s skin, a clumsy oaf who nevertheless can disappear like a cat into the darkness.

— j. robert lennon, New York Times, "A Stranger From the Past Confronts Roddy Doyle’s Latest Hero," 31 Oct. 2017
Though comic buffoons and yokels are scattered through a number of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Lear’s universe is relentlessly bleak, and the Fool, despite his jingling, is neither oaf nor jester.

— cynthia ozick, New York Times, "King Lear Is Reborn as a 21st-Century Media Mogul," 25 Oct. 2017
Rob Gronkowski only played eight games, but Kelce—who played all sixteen—averaged more yards per game than New England’s lovable oaf.

— clay skipper, GQ, "How the NFL's Travis Kelce Became the Most Fun Guy in the No Fun League," 7 Sep. 2017
The other is Trump himself, an uninformed and undisciplined oaf who likes to shoot from the hip.

— jeet heer, New Republic, "This Is Not a North Korean Crisis. It’s a Trump Crisis.," 10 Aug. 2017
But, regardless of which party wins on Thursday, criticizing the oaf in the White House will continue to be an applause line.

— john cassidy, The New Yorker, "Theresa May’s Donald Trump Problem," 6 June 2017
Pally, a lovable oaf from sitcoms like Happy Endings and The Mindy Project, is extremely well-cast as Ben.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "Band Aid Is a Bleak Dive Into a Marriage," 2 June 2017
Yes, main character Skarin is basically a lumbering oaf without a sneaky bone in his body.

— chris kohler, WIRED, "Review: Sega’s Viking Is Gruesomely Addictive," 28 Mar. 2008

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'oaf.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

oaf Has a Fanciful History

A long time ago in England, it was believed that goblins sometimes secretly exchanged their babies for human babies. This was used as an explanation when parents found themselves with a particularly ugly or deformed child: these parents wanted to believe that their real baby had been stolen by goblins, and the other left in its place. The label for such a child was auf, or alfe (meaning "goblin's child"), terms that were later altered to form our present-day oaf. Although the linguistic history is not entirely clear, auf and alfe are likely from the Middle English alven and elven, meaning "elf" or "fairy." Today the word oaf is no longer associated with unattractive babies and is instead applied to anyone who appears especially unintelligent or graceless.

Origin and Etymology of oaf

alteration of auf, alfe goblin's child, probably from Middle English alven, elven elf, fairy, from Old English elfen nymphs; akin to Old English ælf elf — more at elf

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1682

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year