Etymology From Middle English evete, from Old English efete, of unknown origin.
1
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: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
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," II. Sibrandus Schafnaburgennis
eft
adv
Etymology 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.