eft
A newt, especially a smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris, syn. Triturus punctatus), of Europe.
Adverb
- Again; afterwards
- And when they were all gone, / And the dim moon doth eft withhold the light,[…] - 1557, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, The Fourth Book of Virgil:
Origin
From Middle English eft, from Old English eft, æft, from Proto-West Germanic *afti, from Proto-Germanic *afti. Cognate with Old Saxon eft, aft, eht (“again, afterwards”), Middle Low German echt (“again, afterward”). Compare English after, aft.
Derived
Noun
- A newt, especially a smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris, syn. Triturus punctatus), of Europe.
- Only these marishes and myrie bogs, / In which the fearefull ewftes do build their bowres, / Yeeld me an hostry mongst the croking frogs […]. - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London:...
- 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? - 1844, Robert Browning, "Garden Fancies,"...
Origin
From Middle English evete, from Old English efete, of unknown origin.