doff

verb

to put or take off from body

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /dɒf/ / /dɔf/ / /dɑf/

noun

Etymology: 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.

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.”

verb

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 ſhepheards hooke, […]”
“Thou vveare a Lyons hide, doff it for ſhame, / And hang a Calues skin on thoſe recreant limbes.”
To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).
“The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy.”
“[H]is courtesy to show, / He doffed, to Marmion bending low, / His broidered cap and plume.”
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.”
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.”
To remove (a bobbin or spindle which is full of spun yarn) from a spinning frame for replacement with an empty one.
To remove (small pieces of cotton or other plant fibre, etc.) from a carding cylinder.
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: […]”
“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; […]”
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.”
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.”