ooftish

English

Etymology

From Yiddish אויפֿן טיש (oyfn tish) in the phrase געלט אויפֿן טיש (gelt oyfn tish, “money on the table”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈuːf.tɪʃ/

Noun

ooftish (uncountable)

1. (archaic, British slang) Money.
   • 1889 August 27, Daily News:

     Henry Smith, her coachman, next gave evidence. He said he heard King say he had come after some ooftish.

   • 1897, A. R. Marshall, Pomes^[sic] from the Pink 'Un, page 76:

     And you bet that each gal, not to mention each yob, / Didn't care how much ooftish it cost 'em per nob.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:money

Derived terms

• feathered oof-bird (“large source of money”)
• make the oof-bird walk (“to circulate money”)
• oof (“money”)
• oof-bag (“source of money”)
• oof-bird (“source of money”)
• oofless (“poor”)
• oofy (“rich”)
• pad the oof (“to fold banknotes to appear twice as much”)

References

• John S[tephen] Farmer; W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, compilers (1902) “ooftish”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume V, [London: […] Harrison and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 107.
• “ooftish”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• shoofti