doff

Followed by off: an act of putting off or turning away someone with an excuse, etc.

Noun

  1. Followed by off: an act of putting off or turning away someone with an excuse, etc.
    • Faith, Lelia has een giuen him the doff off here, and has made hir father almoſt ſtarke mad. - 1606, A Pleasant Comedie, Called Wily Beguilde. […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Clement Knight; […], →OCLC, [scene...

Origin

PIE word *h₂epó The verb is derived from Late Middle English doffen (“to take off (clothing); to remove (headwear) as a sign of respect; to remove (grease) by skimming”), a contraction of Middle English do off, don off, from Old English dōn of, from dōn (“to do; to put; to take off, remove”) + of (“from; off”). Dōn is derived from Proto-West Germanic *dōn (“to do; to place, put”), from Proto-Germanic *dōną (“to do; to make; to place, put”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”). By surface analysis, do + off. Compare don (by surface analysis, do + on), dout (do + out), dup (do + up). The noun is derived from the verb.

Forms

doffs

Verb

  1. To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).
    • […] Calidore perceiuing, thought it beſt / To chaunge the manner of his loftie looke; / And doffing his bright armes, himſelfe addreſt / In ſhepheards vveed, and in his hand he tooke, / In ſtead of ſteelehead ſpeare, a...
    • Thou vveare a Lyons hide, doff it for ſhame, / And hang a Calues skin on thoſe recreant limbes. - c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
    • You haue deceiu'd our truſt, / And made vs doffe our eaſie roabes of peace, / To cruſh our old limbs in vngentle ſteele, / This is not vvell my Lord, this is not vvell. - c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare],...

    Antonyms: don put on

    1. To remove or tip (a hat or other headwear) in greeting or salutation, or as a mark of respect.

      • The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy.
      • [H]is courtesy to show, / He doffed, to Marmion bending low, / His broidered cap and plume. - 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames]...
      • Were there really seventy-three ways to doff one's hat? / There were! I'd rather suspected that - 2010, Jim Burke, “Hail the Chap”, in I Say!, performed by Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer [pseudonym; Jim Burke]:

      Antonyms: don put on

  2. To undress (oneself); to divest, to strip.
    • VVhy art thou troubled Herod? vvhat vaine feare / Thy blood-revolving Breſt to rage doth move? / Heavens King, vvho doffs himſelfe vveake fleſh to vveare, / Comes not to rule in vvrath, but ſerve in love. - 1646,...
  3. To cast aside or get rid of (something), to throw off.
    • Doff that stupid idea: it will never work.
    • […] Romeo doffe thy name, / And for thy name vvhich is no part of thee, / Take all my ſelfe. - c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede,...
    • [H]ee (to requite their courteſie) oftentimes d'offeth off his ovvne Nature, and puts of theirs; as vvhen hee becomes as churliſh as a Hogge, or as drunke as a Sovv: […] - 1599 (first performance), B. I. [i.e., Ben...
  4. To remove (a bobbin or spindle which is full of spun yarn) from a spinning frame for replacement with an empty one.
  5. To remove (small pieces of cotton or other plant fibre, etc.) from a carding cylinder.
  6. To put off or turn away (someone) with an excuse, etc.
    • Euery day, thou dofftſt me, vvith ſome deuiſe Iago; / And rather, as it ſeemes to me, thou keepeſt from me, / All conueniency, then ſupplieſt me, vvith the leaſt / Aduantage of hope: […] - c. 1603–1604 (date written),...
    • VVhen to one Goat, they reach that prickly vveed, / VVhich maketh all the reſt forbeare to feed; / Or ſtrevv Tods haires, or vvith their tailes do ſvveepe / The devvy graſſe, to d'off the ſimpler ſheepe; […] - a. 1638...
  7. To remove or tip a hat or other headwear in greeting or salutation, or as a mark of respect.
    • And [the goose] feeding high, and living soft, / Grew plump and able-bodied; / Until the grave churchwarden doff'd, / The parson smirk'd and nodded. - 1832, Alfred Tennyson, “The Goose”, in Poems. […], volume I, London:...
  8. Followed by with: to remove or take off something worn on the body, or something carried.
    • VVhy, look'ye, Major Sturgeon, I don't much care for your poppers and ſharpes, becauſe vvhy, they are out of my vvay; but if you vvill doff vvith your boots, and box a couple of bouts. - 1763 June 20 (first...

Forms

doffs doffing doffed no-table-tags glossary doff doffest doffedst doffeth -

Derived

daff doffer doffing doff one's hat to undoffed