Word: doff Part of Speech: verb 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. Pronunciation: /dɒf/, /dɔf/, /dɑf/ 1. To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried). Labels: transitive Example: […] 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, […] Example: Thou vveare a Lyons hide, doff it for ſhame, / And hang a Calues skin on thoſe recreant limbes. 2. To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried). Labels: transitive Example: The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy. Example: [H]is courtesy to show, / He doffed, to Marmion bending low, / His broidered cap and plume. 3. To undress (oneself); to divest, to strip. Labels: dialectal, reflexive, transitive Example: 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. 4. To cast aside or get rid of (something), to throw off. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: Doff that stupid idea: it will never work. Example: […] Romeo doffe thy name, / And for thy name vvhich is no part of thee, / Take all my ſelfe. 5. To remove (a bobbin or spindle which is full of spun yarn) from a spinning frame for replacement with an empty one. Labels: transitive 6. To remove (small pieces of cotton or other plant fibre, etc.) from a carding cylinder. Labels: transitive 7. To put off or turn away (someone) with an excuse, etc. Labels: obsolete, transitive Example: 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: […] Example: 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; […] 8. To remove or tip a hat or other headwear in greeting or salutation, or as a mark of respect. Labels: archaic, intransitive, rare Example: 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. 9. Followed by with: to remove or take off something worn on the body, or something carried. Labels: intransitive, obsolete, rare Example: 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.