oof

oof

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /uːf/, /ʊf/
• (General American) enPR: ūf, IPA^(key): /uf/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːf, -ʊf

Etymology 1

An onomatopoeia. Similar to Dutch oef and German uff.

Interjection

oof

1. (onomatopoeia) A sound mimicking the loss of air, as if someone's solar plexus had just been struck.
   • 1989 June 5, The Canberra Times, page 10, column 2:

     Whap, Biff, Ooooof, Sock, Pow, Zok! Batman is back. Gotham City is again leaving its law and order in the hands of a man who wears plastic underpants over his tights.

2. (slang) Synonym of ouch (“expressing sympathy at another's pain, shock at a high price, etc.”)
   • 2017, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy.

     "Oof, you just lost a lot of progress. That's a real frustration, a real punch in the gut."

Noun

oof (plural oofs)

1. A sound made in pain, as when expelling air after being struck.
   • 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 33:

     The soldier on the ground clutched his head and then his stomach and gave an "oof" of pain.

Etymology 2

Clipping of ooftish

Noun

oof (uncountable)

1. (UK, slang, dated) Money. [c. 1850 – c. 1940]
   • 1888, H. Rider Haggard, Colonel Quaritch V.C. (archive.org ebook), page 232:

     “Oh,” Johnnie was saying, “so Quest is his name, is it, and he lives in a city called Boisingham, does he? Is he an oof bird?” (rich)
     “Rather,” answered the Tiger, “if only one can make the dollars run, but he's a nasty mean boy, he is.

   • 1900, Harry B. Norris, Burlington Bertie (song)

     Burlington Bertie's the latest young jay
     He rents a swell flat somewhere Kensington way
     He spends the good oof that his pater has made
     Along with the Brandy and Soda Brigade.

   • 1911–1912, published 1916, Gilbert Parker, The World For Sale, book 2, chapter 10 (Gutenberg ebook, archive.org ebook):

     What's he after? Oof—oof—oof, that's what he's after. He's for his own pocket, he's for being boss of all the woolly West. He's after keeping us poor and making himself rich.

   • 1991 May 12, "Kidnapped!" Jeeves and Wooster, Series 2, Episode 5:

     Chuffy: It's on a knife edge at the moment, Bertie. If he can get planning permission, old Stoker's going to take this heap off my hands in return for vast amounts of oof.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:money

Derived terms

• feathered oof-bird (“large source of money”)
• make the oof-bird walk (“to circulate money”)
• oof-bag (“source of money”)
• oof-bird (“source of money”)
• oofless (“poor”)
• oofy (“rich”)
• pad the oof (“to fold banknotes to appear twice as much”)

References

• Farmer, John Stephen (1902) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 5, page 107
• “oof”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• Foo, foo, foo'

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Hawaiian Creole

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uf/

Verb

oof

1. (vulgar) to have sex