oaf

noun \ ˈōf \

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.

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oafish

play \ˈō-fish\ adjective

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oafishly

adverb

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oafishness

noun

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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

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
Gustavo, dismissed as an oaf, seems no match for Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios), a crime lord’s daughter.

— hal boedeker, OrlandoSentinel.com, "'Snowfall': Superb series explores how crack began," 1 July 2017
Sung Kang-ho as The Weird, in particular, delivers a tremendous performance, equal parts clown, trickster, and something more, sliding between oaf and mystery man with unsettling ease.

— joshua rivera, GQ, "The Good, The Bad, The Weird: The Western Homage You Shouldn't Miss on Netflix," 1 July 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

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First Known Use: 1682

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