Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
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.
verb (tr)
- to take off or lift (one’s hat) in salutation
- to remove (clothing)
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.