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doff

[dof, dawf]
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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.

RELATED WORDS

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

Nearby words

  1. doeskin,
  2. doesn't,
  3. doest,
  4. doeth,
  5. dof,
  6. doffer,
  7. dog,
  8. dog and bone,
  9. dog and pony show,
  10. dog ape

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for doff

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

doff

v.

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