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Reference
>
Brewer’s Dictionary
> Oaf.
O Yes’! O Yes! O Yes!
Oak.
CONTENTS
·
BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer
1810–1897
. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Oaf.
A corruption of
ouph
(elf). A foolish child or dolt is so called from the notion that all idiots are changelings, left by the fairies in the place of the stolen ones.
1
“This guiltless oaf his vacancy of sense
Supplied, and amply too, by innocence.”
Byron: Verses found in a Summer-house.
O Yes’! O Yes! O Yes!
Oak.
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