goff

See also: Goff

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒf

Etymology 1

Noun

goff (uncountable)

1. (Scotland) Obsolete form of golf (“ball game”).
   • 1848, Maria Edgeworth, The Gardener:

     Forester soon took an aversion to the game of goff, and recollected Scotch reels with less contempt.

Etymology 2

Compare French goffe (“ill-made, awkward”), Italian goffo, Spanish gofo, German dialect Goff (“a blockhead”).

Noun

goff (plural goffs)

1. (obsolete) A fool; a clown.
   • 1678, “The Geneva Ballad”:

     He calls the bishop Grey-beard Goff,
     And makes his power a mere scoff.

References

• “goff”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.