Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To take off; remove: doff one's clothes.
- v. To tip or remove (one's hat) in salutation.
- v. To put aside; discard.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To put or take off, as dress, or any article of dress, especially the hat or cap.
- To strip; uncover; lay bare.
- To put or drive off; thrust aside or away.
- To throw, as something taken off or rejected; put or thrust so as to be out of the way.
- In textile manufacturing: To strip off, as cotton or wool for spinning from the cards or carding-cylinder, etc. (see doffer); also, to remove or take away, as full bobbins, to make way for empty ones.
- To mend or piece together, as broken threads.
- To remove the hat from the head in salutation.
Wiktionary
- v. To remove a hat as a greeting or mark of respect.
- v. To remove or take off, especially of clothing.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To put off, as dress; to divest one's self of; hence, figuratively, to put or thrust away; to rid one's self of.
- v. To strip; to divest; to undress.
- v. To put off dress; to take off the hat.
WordNet 3.0
- v. remove.
Etymologies
- Middle English doffen, from don off, to do off : don, to do; see do1 + off, off; see off.
Examples
“_Do on_, put on; often shortened into "don"; cf. doff, which is shortened from do off.”
“doff" it is. actually, why don't i just add that to the "don" entry, since it's essentially the same thing?”
“So park your Fiat 500 in the driveway of your Mid-Century modern rancher, doff your bouclé suit and prim pumps, and settle back in your Eames couch: In one sense, 'Mad Men' is always on these days.”
“So park your Fiat 500 in the driveway of your Mid-Century modern rancher, doff your bouclé suit and prim pumps, and settle back in your Eames sofa with a chilled martini.”
“(Neil Gaiman reports on his blog that he is going to buy a cap just so he can doff it to Pratchett.) 2 comments | Leave a comment”
“At least she could send the cops on my trail to be baffled over my corpse, doff their hats, and forget it ever happened.”
“Based on blog and comment reactions I've seen, some readers find that element really shocking, and at that point either doff their hat in my direction for how I handled it, or get really angry, either at the story or directly at me.”
“So I'd like to doff my hat and say, "Gracias a todos!”
“Getty Images Yankee players doff caps on Sept. 21, 2008.”
“Sam Read, I'd say, is a literary bookshop at heart, as well it might be, given that it lies on the doorstep of Dove Cottage and the birthplace of English Romanticism, though again, it doesn't doff its fez to Wordsworth either, which so many others do.”
The Guardian: My favourite independent bookshop: Sam Read, Grasmere
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘doff’.
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Naked
Words relating to getting naked, being naked, the commonly naked, nakedness (partial or complete), and similar.
denude, strip, stripper, harlot, Cyprian, fancy woman, lady of pleasure, hooker, divest, unfrock, unclothe, disrobe and 112 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Hence, figuratively
Words with definitions containing both "hence" and "figuratively."
sternforemost, pearl, fulminate, salient, pocket, niche, rough-grained, harness, befog, zenith, pivot, blackwash and 37 more...
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salutes
hail, greet, toast, gesture, saluter, doff, gratulate, acclaim, halse, panegyric, salue, salve and 28 more...
kingparton I had but to drink the cup, to doff at once the body of the noted professor, and to assume, like a thick cloak, that of Edward Hyde.
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Jul 28, 2011
Noelle Knight "Sam retired behind the hedge in front of his trailer to doff his clothes."-Dead as a Doornail, by Charlaine Harris May 18, 2011
bilby "Doffe of thy clothes, And knele in thy kyrtylle."
- Sir Thomas Mallory, 'Le Morte Darthur', circa 1470.
(phrases.org.uk notes kyrtylle as a tunic or petticoat) Dec 30, 2010
stpeter A contraction of "do off". Contrast with don. Jan 5, 2007