doff
[ dof, dawf ]
/ dɒf, dɔf /
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.
- to strip (carded fiber) from a carding machine.
- to remove (full bobbins, material, etc.) from a textile machine.
noun
Textiles.
- the act of removing bobbins, material, etc., and stripping fibers from a textile machine.
- the material so doffed.
Nearby words
- doeskin,
- doesn't,
- doest,
- doeth,
- dof,
- doffer,
- dog,
- dog and bone,
- dog and pony show,
- dog ape
Origin of doff
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for doff
doff
/ (dɒf) /
verb (tr)
to take off or lift (one's hat) in salutation
to remove (clothing)
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
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper