doff

doff

English

Etymology

From Middle English doffen (“take off”), contraction of Old English dōn of. Equivalent to a blend of do +‎ off. Compare don, dup, dout, gauf.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɒf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɔf/
• (US, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /dɑf/
• Rhymes: -ɒf

• Audio (UK)

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Verb

doff (third-person singular simple present doffs, present participle doffing, simple past and past participle doffed)

1. (clothing) To remove or take off (something such as clothing).

   Synonym: take off

   Antonym: don

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i]:

     And made us doff our easy robes of peace.

   • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Adirondacs. A Journal. Dedicated to My Fellow-travellers in August, 1858.”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, OCLC 1184564533, page 47:

     [A]t night, or in the rain, / He dons a surcoat which he doffs at morn: […]

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     She had doffed the shirt and Bermuda-shorts which she had been wearing and was now dressed for her journey home.

2. To remove or tip a hat, as in greeting, salutation or as a mark of respect.

   The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy.

3. To get rid of, to throw off.

   Doff that stupid idea: it would never work.

   • 1778, Charles Dibdin, “The Perfect Sailor”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Thus Death, who kings and tars despatches, / In vain Tom's life has doffed, / For, though his body's under hatches / His soul has gone aloft.

4. (reflexive) To strip; to divest; to undress.
   • 1646, Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple

     Heaven's King, who doffs himself weak flesh to wear.

Derived terms

• doffer
• doff one's hat to

Translations

to remove or take off (something such as clothing)

Bulgarian: свалям (bg) (svaljam) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Dutch: uitdoen (nl), ontdoen (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: riisua (fi) Latin: exuō Maori: unu (mi) Russian: снима́ть (ru) (snimátʹ) Tibetan: ཕུད (phud) Vietnamese: cởi (vi)

to remove or tip a hat, as in greeting, salutation or as a mark of respect

Bulgarian: снемам (bg) (snemam) Finnish: nostaa hattua Russian: снима́ть (ru) (snimátʹ) Vietnamese: bỏ (vi)

to get rid of, to throw off

Bulgarian: отказвам се от (otkazvam se ot) Dutch: verwerpen (nl) Finnish: hylätä (fi), heittää pois (fi) Russian: выбра́сывать (ru) (vybrásyvatʹ)

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Alternative forms

• daff, daf

Etymology

From Middle English doffen.

Verb

doff (simple past doft or daffed, past participle ee-daff)

1. to strip

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), 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, page 35