oof
English
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /uːf/, /ʊf/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: ūf, IPA(key): /uf/
Audio (AU): (file) - Rhymes: -uːf, -ʊf
Etymology 1
Interjection
oof
- A sound mimicking the loss of air, as if someone's solar plexus had just been struck.
Etymology 2
Noun
oof (uncountable)
- (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.
- “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)
- 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.
- Burlington Bertie's the latest young jay
- 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.
- 1888, H. Rider Haggard, Colonel Quaritch V.C. (archive.org ebook), page 232:
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
- John S[tephen] Farmer; W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, compilers (1902) “oof”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume V, [London: […] Harrison and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 107.
- “oof”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.