doff
English edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /dɒf/
- (General American) IPA(key): /dɔf/
- (US, cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /dɑf/
- Rhymes: -ɒf
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Verb edit
doff (third-person singular simple present doffs, present participle doffing, simple past and past participle doffed)
- (clothing) To remove or take off (something such as clothing).
- 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, [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, 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:
- She had doffed the shirt and Bermuda-shorts which she had been wearing and was now dressed for her journey home.
- To remove or tip a hat, as in greeting, salutation or as a mark of respect.
- The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy.
- 2010, Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer (lyrics and music), “Hail the Chap”, in I Say!, performed by Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer:
- Were there really seventy-three ways to doff one's hat?
There were! I'd rather suspected that
- 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.
- (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 edit
Translations edit
to remove or take off (something such as clothing)
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to remove or tip a hat, as in greeting, salutation or as a mark of respect
to get rid of, to throw off
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Yola edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English doffen.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
doff (simple past doft or daffed, past participle ee-daff)
- to strip
References edit
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) 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, published 1867, page 35