doff
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: business
clothing
fashion
lifestyle
manufacturing
textiles
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.
Inflected forms:
form: doffs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: doffing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: doffed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: doffed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: doff
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: doff
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: doffed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: doff
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: doffest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: doffed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: doffedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: doffs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: doffeth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: doffed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: doff
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: doffed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: doff
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: doffed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: doff
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: doffing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: doffed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: […] 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.
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.
[T]hen made him d'off thoſe vveeds: / And ſent the Mightie vnto mightie deeds.
Upon a riſing bank I ſat adovvn, / Then doff'd my ſhoe, […]
The little vvarriors doff the targe and ſpear, […]
[J]uſt for fun's ſake, doff your coat and vvaiſtcoat, and ſvvop vvith Monſieur Grinagain here, and I'll vvarrant you'll not knovv yourſelf vvhich is vvhich.
Beside him ancient Angus stood, / Doffed his furred gown, and sable hood; […]
I pray thee to call my slaves to unarm me; and when thou thyself doffest those weapons of an ordinary lifeguard's-man, tell them they never shall above twice more enclose the limbs of one for whom fate has much more fitting garments in store.
Thou turnedst my mourning to dancing: / Thou doffedst my sackcloth, / And girdedst me round with gladness.
But in the falling afternoon return'd / The huge Earl Doorm with plunder to the hall. / His lusty spearmen follow'd him with noise: / Each hurling down a heap of things that rang / Against the pavement, cast his lance aside, / And doff'd his helm: […]
[A]t night, or in the rain, / He dons a surcoat which he doffs at morn: […]
She had doffed the shirt and Bermuda-shorts which she had been wearing and was now dressed for her journey home.
gloss: To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy.
[H]is courtesy to show, / He doffed, to Marmion bending low, / His broidered cap and plume.
Were there really seventy-three ways to doff one's hat? / There were! I'd rather suspected that
gloss: To undress (oneself); to divest, to strip.
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
reflexive
transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To cast aside or get rid of (something), to throw off.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: 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.
[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: […]
Novv is the time of helpe: your eye in Scotland / VVould create Soldiours, make our vvomen fight, / To doffe their dire diſtreſſes.
Thus death, vvho kings and tars deſpatches, / Tom's life hath vainly doff'd; / For though his body's under hatches, / His ſoul is gone aloft.
Power laid his rod of rule aside, / And Ceremony doffed his pride.
gloss: To remove (a bobbin or spindle which is full of spun yarn) from a spinning frame for replacement with an empty one.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To remove (small pieces of cotton or other plant fibre, etc.) from a carding cylinder.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To put off or turn away (someone) with an excuse, etc.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: 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; […]
gloss: To remove or tip a hat or other headwear in greeting or salutation, or as a mark of respect.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
intransitive
rare
examples: 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.
gloss: Followed by with: to remove or take off something worn on the body, or something carried.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
rare
examples: 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.
Derived words: daff
doffer
doffing
doff one's hat to
undoffed
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: свалям
roman: svaljam
lang: Catalan
word: treure
lang: Czech
word: sundat
lang: Czech
word: sundat si
lang: Dutch
word: uitdoen
lang: Dutch
word: ontdoen
lang: Esperanto
word: devesti
lang: Finnish
word: riisua
lang: French
word: ôter
lang: French
word: enlever
lang: Italian
word: togliere
lang: Latin
word: exuō
lang: Māori
word: unu
lang: Portuguese
word: tirar
lang: Russian
word: снима́ть
roman: snimátʹ
lang: Spanish
word: quitarse
lang: Tamil
word: கழற்று
roman: kaḻaṟṟu
lang: Tibetan
word: ཕུད
roman: phud
lang: Vietnamese
word: cởi
lang: Bulgarian
word: снемам
roman: snemam
lang: Czech
word: smeknout
lang: Finnish
word: nostaa hattua
lang: Russian
word: снима́ть
roman: snimátʹ
lang: Vietnamese
word: bỏ