doff

[dof, dawf]

See more synonyms for doff on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

to remove or take off, as clothing.
to remove or tip (the hat), as in greeting.
to throw off; get rid of: Doff your stupid ideas and join our side!

Textiles.
1. to strip (carded fiber) from a carding machine.
2. to remove (full bobbins, material, etc.) from a textile machine.

noun

Textiles.
1. the act of removing bobbins, material, etc., and stripping fibers from a textile machine.
2. the material so doffed.

Origin of doff

1300–50; Middle English, contraction of do off; cf. don¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for doff

shed, peel, undress, disrobe, strip, discard, shuck

Examples from the Web for doff

Contemporary Examples of doff

Ivory Coast is “The Elephants,” Nigeria “The Super Eagles,” but doff your cap to Cameroon: “The Indomitable Lions.”
Inside the World Cup Draw: Devastating for the U.S., Great for Brazil
Nico Hines
December 6, 2013
Doff your shirt, and it can make you all-powerful, as it does Shane Carwin of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
What Does a Goatee Say About You?
Bryan Curtis
November 12, 2009
There were rumors, too, that nuns might be permitted to doff their habits and move through the world like 'normal' people.
We Miserable Catholics
Frank McCourt
December 19, 2008

Historical Examples of doff

I heard him retorting, as he assisted me to doff my doublet.
Bardelys the Magnificent
Rafael Sabatini
Presently you may doff it for all time, and resume your true estate.
The Shame of Motley
Raphael Sabatini
In the fields, the corn-gatherers pause to doff their hats and smile their welcome.
Plantation Sketches
Margaret Devereux
And she began at once to talk of the puppies, whom she had named Don and Doff.
Beyond
John Galsworthy
Without rising, Zuchin asked me to have some vodka and to doff my tunic.
Youth
Leo Tolstoy

British Dictionary definitions for doff

doff

verb (tr)

to take off or lift (one's hat) in salutation
to remove (clothing)

Derived Formsdoffer, noun

Word Origin for doff

Old English dōn of; see do 1, off; compare don 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for doff

mid-14c., contraction of do off, preserving the original sense of do as "put." At the time of Johnson's Dictionary [1755] the word was "obsolete, and rarely used except by rustics," but it was saved from extinction (along with don) by Sir Walter Scott. Related: Doffed; doffing.