FromMiddle Englishevete, fromOld Englishefete, of unknown origin.
eft (pluralefts)
- Anewt, especially asmooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris, syn.Triturus punctatus), of Europe.
- 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?
The termred eft is used for the land-dwelling juvenile stage of theeastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens).
FromMiddle Englisheft, fromOld Englisheft,æft, fromProto-West Germanic*afti, fromProto-Germanic*aftiz. Compareafter,aft.
eft (notcomparable)
- (obsolete)Again;afterwards
FromOld Englisheft,æft. Compareafter.
eft
- again
1387–1400,Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Marchauntes Prologue”, inThe Canterbury Tales, [Westminster:William Caxton, published1478],→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 neuerefte come in the ſnare- If I were released,—so may I prosper,—
I would neveragain fall into the snare.
- back (to apreviousplace orstate)
- afterwards,hereafter
- likewise,in addition,moreover
FromProto-West Germanic*afti, fromProto-Germanic*aftiz. Cognate withOld Frisianeft,Old Saxoneft,Old Norseept.
eft
- again
Hē ātēaheft his sweord, andeft hit līehte on þīestrum þurh hit self.- He took out his swordagain, andagain 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 nǣfreeft ġesewen...- ...and gave orders to warn him, if he wished to live, that he should never be seen in the monasteryagain...
- late 9th century,King Alfred'stranslation ofSaint Augustine'sSoliloquies
Ne āġyf mē nǣfreeft hym,...- Neveragain restore me to them,...
- c. 992,Ælfric,"Sermon on the Beginning of Creation"
Þā behēt God þæt hē nolde nǣfreeft eall mancynn mid wætre ācwellan.- Then God promised that he would neveragain destroy all of humanity with water.
- back(of return or reversal)
Ġif man lange staraþ on þā neowolnesse, staraþ sēo neowolneseft on hine.- If you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss staresback into you.
- afterwards
- Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church
Moyses, ðurh Godes mihte, āwende eal heora wæter tō rēadum blōde, and hē āfylde eal heora land mid froggon, and siððan mid gnættum,eft mid hundes lūsum, ðā flugon into heora mūðe and heora næsðyrlum; and sē Ælmihtiġa ðone mōdiġan cyning mid þām eaðelicum ġesċeaftum swā gėswencte...- Moses, through the power of God, turned all their water into red blood, and filled all of their land with frogs, and then with gnats, andafterwards with dogflies, which flew into their mouths and their nostrils; the Almighty punished their proud king in that way with every kind of creature...
FromProto-Germanic*aftiz. Cognate withOld Frisianeft,Old Englisheft,Old Norseept.
eft
- afterwards,again
- 9th c.Heliand, verse 4898:
hē suiltit imueft swerdes eggiun- he succumbed to deathagain by the sword's edge.
FromMiddle Englishefte, fromOld Englishefete.
eft
- newt
- 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, published1867,page38
