doff
/dɒf//dɔf/
doff verb: to remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).
Verb
doff (third-person singular simple present doffs, present participle doffing, simple past and past participle doffed)
- To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).
- […] Calidore perceiuing, thought it beſt / To chaunge the manner of his loftie looke; / And doffing his bright armes, himſelfe addreſt / In ſhepheards vveed, and in his hand he tooke, / In ſtead of ſteelehead ſpeare, a ſhepheards hooke, […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 36, page 476
- Thou vveare a Lyons hide, doff it for ſhame, / And hang a Calues skin on thoſe recreant limbes.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- To remove or tip (a hat or other headwear) in greeting or salutation, or as a mark of respect.
- The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy.
- [H]is courtesy to show, / He doffed, to Marmion bending low, / His broidered cap and plume.1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William...
- To undress (oneself); to divest, to strip.
- VVhy art thou troubled Herod? vvhat vaine feare / Thy blood-revolving Breſt to rage doth move? / Heavens King, vvho doffs himſelfe vveake fleſh to vveare, / Comes not to rule in vvrath, but ſerve in love.1646, Richard Crashaw, “Sospetto d’Herode. Libro Primo.”, in Steps to the Temple. Sacred Poems, with Other Delights of the Muses, London: […] T. W. for Humphrey Moseley, […], →OCLC, stanza 65, page 72
- To cast aside or get rid of (something), to throw off.
- Doff that stupid idea: it will never work.
- […] Romeo doffe thy name, / And for thy name vvhich is no part of thee, / Take all my ſelfe.c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature...
- To remove (a bobbin or spindle which is full of spun yarn) from a spinning frame for replacement with an empty one.
- To remove (small pieces of cotton or other plant fibre, etc.) from a carding cylinder.
- To put off or turn away (someone) with an excuse, etc.
- Euery day, thou dofftſt me, vvith ſome deuiſe Iago; / And rather, as it ſeemes to me, thou keepeſt from me, / All conueniency, then ſupplieſt me, vvith the leaſt / Aduantage of hope: […]c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act...
- VVhen to one Goat, they reach that prickly vveed, / VVhich maketh all the reſt forbeare to feed; / Or ſtrevv Tods haires, or vvith their tailes do ſvveepe / The devvy graſſe, to d'off the ſimpler ſheepe; […]a. 1638 (date written), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Sad Shepherd: Or, A Tale of Robin-Hood”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard...
- To remove or tip a hat or other headwear in greeting or salutation, or as a mark of respect.
- And [the goose] feeding high, and living soft, / Grew plump and able-bodied; / Until the grave churchwarden doff'd, / The parson smirk'd and nodded.1832, Alfred Tennyson, “The Goose”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, stanza V, page 231
- Followed by with: to remove or take off something worn on the body, or something carried.
- VVhy, look'ye, Major Sturgeon, I don't much care for your poppers and ſharpes, becauſe vvhy, they are out of my vvay; but if you vvill doff vvith your boots, and box a couple of bouts.1763 June 20 (first performance), Samuel Foote, The Mayor of Garret. A Comedy, […], London: […] P[aul] Vaillant, […], published 1764, →OCLC, Act II, scene [ii], page 45
Noun
doff (plural doffs)
- Followed by off: an act of putting off or turning away someone with an excuse, etc.
- Faith, Lelia has een giuen him the doff off here, and has made hir father almoſt ſtarke mad.1606, A Pleasant Comedie, Called Wily Beguilde. […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Clement Knight; […], →OCLC, [scene xi], page 38, lines [1221–1222]
doff meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
doff in Tamil
- to remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried)
- கழற்று kaḻaṟṟu
doff in Urdu
- کپڑے اتارنا, ملتوی کرنا, ٹوپی اتارنا
doff in Malayalam
- remove, take off, strip off
- നീക്കുക, വസ്ത്രം അഴിക്കുക, തൊപ്പി അഴിക്കുക, നീക്കംചെയ്യുക, അഴിച്ചുമാറ്റുക, ഉപേക്ഷിക്കുക
doff in Kannada
- ತೆಗೆ, ತೆಗೆದುಹಾಕು
More languagesFewer languages
- doff in Vietnamese
- cởi, bỏ
Examples of doff in a sentence
- You haue deceiu'd our truſt, / And made vs doffe our eaſie roabes of peace, / To cruſh our old limbs in vngentle ſteele, / This is not vvell my Lord, this is not vvell.c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for...
- Upon a riſing bank I ſat adovvn, / Then doff'd my ſhoe, […]1714, J[ohn] Gay, “Thursday; or, The Spell”, in The Shepherd’s Week. In Six Pastorals, London: […] R. Burleigh […], →OCLC, page 32, lines...
- The little vvarriors doff the targe and ſpear, […]1771, James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the First, London: […] E[dward] & C[harles] Dilly, […]...
- [J]uſt for fun's ſake, doff your coat and vvaiſtcoat, and ſvvop vvith Monſieur Grinagain here, and I'll vvarrant you'll not knovv yourſelf vvhich is vvhich.1778, [Frances Burney], “Letter XXI. Evelina in Continuation.”, in Evelina, or, A Young Lady’s Entrance into the World, volume III, London...
Antonyms of doff
Forms of doff
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | doffs |
| present participle | doffing |
| past participle | doffed |
| past | doffed |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | doffest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | doffedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | doffeth |
| Noun | |
| plural | doffs |
Origin of doff
PIE word *h₂epó The verb is derived from Late Middle English doffen (“to take off (clothing); to remove (headwear) as a sign of respect; to remove (grease) by skimming”), a contraction of Middle English do off, don off, from Old English dōn of, from dōn (“to do; to put; to take off, remove”) + of (“from; off”). Dōn is derived from Proto-West Germanic *dōn (“to do; to place, put”), from Proto-Germanic *dōną (“to do; to make; to place, put”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”). By surface analysis, do + off. Compare don (by surface analysis, do + on), dout (do + out), dup (do + up). The noun is derived from the verb.
Words formed from doff
Words that rhyme with doff
Questions about doff
- What does doff mean?
- Doff means to remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).
- What is doff in Tamil?
- Doff in Tamil is கழற்று (kaḻaṟṟu). See Doff meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use doff in a sentence?
- You haue deceiu'd our truſt, / And made vs doffe our eaſie roabes of peace, / To cruſh our old limbs in vngentle ſteele, / This is not vvell my Lord, this is not vvell.
- What part of speech is doff?
- Doff can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce doff?
- Doff is pronounced /dɒf/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of doff?
- The past tense of doff is doffed.
Words near doff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: doff (page history and authors); doff (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); doff (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); doff (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-doff.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-doff.wav.
Cite this entry: “doff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/doff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.