eft

See also: EFT and eft-

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛft/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛft

Etymology 1

From Middle English evete, from Old English efete, of unknown origin.

Noun

eft (plural efts)

1. A newt, especially a smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris, syn. Triturus punctatus), of Europe.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Only these marishes and myrie bogs, / In which the fearefull ewftes do build their bowres, / Yeeld me an hostry mongst the croking frogs […].

   • 1844, Robert Browning, "Garden Fancies," II. Sibrandus Schafnaburgennis:

     How did he like it when the live creatures

     Tickled and toused and browsed him all over,

     And worm, slug, eft, with serious features

     Came in, each one, for his right of trover?

Usage notes

The term red eft is used for the land-dwelling juvenile stage of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens).

Translations

newt

• Bulgarian: тритон m (triton)
• Czech: čolek (cs) m
• Plautdietsch: Äajdakjsel m
• Russian: трито́н (ru) m (tritón)

Etymology 2

From Middle English eft, from Old English eft, æft, from Proto-West Germanic *afti, from Proto-Germanic *aftiz. Compare after, aft.

Adverb

eft (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Again; afterwards
   • 1557, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, The Fourth Book of Virgil:

     And when they were all gone, / And the dim moon doth eft withhold the light, […]

Derived terms

• eftsoons

Translations

again; afterwards

• Russian: по́сле (ru) (pósle), за́ново (ru) (zánovo)

Anagrams

• ETF, FET, FTE, TFE, fet, tef

Middle English

Alternative forms

• efte

Etymology

From Old English eft, æft. Compare after.

Adverb

eft

1. again
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Marchauntes Prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folio xxx, recto, column 2:

     Were I vnbounde, also mote I the
     I wolde neuer efte come in the ſnare

     If I were released,—so may I prosper,—
     I would never again fall into the snare.

2. back (to a previous place or state)
   • 1384, John Wycliffe, Bible (Wycliffe): Mark, ii, 1:

     And eft he entride in to Cafarnaum, aftir eiyte daies.

     And he came back into Capernaum after eight days.

3. afterwards, hereafter
4. likewise, in addition, moreover

Alternative forms

• ef
• æft

Descendants

• English: eft

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *aftiz. Cognate with Old Frisian eft, Old Saxon eft, Old Norse ept.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eft/

Adverb

eft

1. again

   Hē ātēah eft his sweord, and eft hit līehte on þīestrum þurh hit self.

   He took out his sword again, and again it flashed in the dark by itself.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Maur, Abbot"

     ...and hēt hine warnian, ġif he wolde libban, þæt hē nǣre on ðām mynstre nǣfre eft ġesewen...

     ...and gave orders to warn him, if he wished to live, that he should never be seen in the monastery again...

   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Saint Augustine's Soliloquies

     Ne āġyf mē nǣfre eft hym,...

     Never again restore me to them,...

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "Sermon on the Beginning of Creation"

     Þā behēt God þæt hē nolde nǣfre eft eall mancynn mid wætre ācwellan.

     Then God promised that he would never again destroy all of humanity with water.

2. back (of return or reversal)

   Ġif man lange staraþ on þā neowolnesse, staraþ sēo neowolnes eft on hine.

   If you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "Saint Maur, Abbot"

     Þā ēode sē prēost eft tō his weorce.

     Then the priest went back to his work.

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Matthew 26:52

     Þā cwæþ sē Hǣlend tō him, "Dō þīn sweord eft on his sċēaðe."

     Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back in its sheath."

3. afterwards

Synonyms

• ongean

Derived terms

• eftgian

Descendants

• Middle English: eft
  • English: eft

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *aftiz. Cognate with Old Frisian eft, Old English eft, Old Norse ept.

Adverb

eft

1. afterwards, again
   • w:Heliand, verse 4898:

     he suiltit imu eft swerdes eggiun

     he succumbed to death again by the sword's edge.

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English efte, from Old English efete.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛft/

Noun

eft

1. newt

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 38