ouphe

ouphe

English

Alternative forms

• aulf

Etymology

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

Noun

ouphe (plural ouphes)

1. (obsolete) A small, often mischievous sprite; a fairy; a goblin; an elf.
   • 1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 5, Scene 4, 1768, John Baskerville, Alexander Pope (editors), The Works of Shakespear, Volume 1, page 301,

     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, 1899, The Culprit Fa[y], 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.