doff
Americanverb (used with object)
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to remove or take off, as clothing.
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to remove or tip (the hat), as in greeting.
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to throw off; get rid of.
Doff your stupid ideas and join our side!
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Textiles.
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to strip (carded fiber) from a carding machine.
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to remove (full bobbins, material, etc.) from a textile machine.
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noun
verb
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to take off or lift (one's hat) in salutation
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to remove (clothing)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have doffedperfect
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has doffedperfect 3rd person singular
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has been doffingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been doffingperfect progressive
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am doffingprogressive 1st person singular
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are doffingprogressive
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is doffingprogressive 3rd person singular
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doffingparticiple
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doffssingular 3rd person
Past
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had doffedperfect
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had been doffingperfect progressive
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were doffingprogressive plural
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doffedsimple
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was doffingprogressive singular
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doffedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of doff
1300–50; Middle English, contraction of do off; cf. don 1
Explanation
Use the verb doff to describe removing something. You probably always doff your cap before the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The word doff and its antonym don date to the mid-14th century. Doff is a contraction of "do (take) off," and don is short for "do (put) on." By 1755, these words were all but obsolete, but they came back into vogue thanks to Sir Walter Scott, author of works like Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, and The Lady of the Lake. The popular Scottish author used them frequently, and he and his readers kept doff and don alive.
Vocabulary lists containing doff
Romeo and Juliet
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The Balcony Scene from "Romeo and Juliet"
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Chains
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
