Word of the Day Archive
Thursday December 26, 2002
doff \DOF\
, transitive verb:
1. To take off, as an article of clothing.
2. To tip or remove (one's hat).
3. To put aside; to rid oneself of.
After I finished sweeping, I grabbed my check, went to the locker room, and doffed the monkey suit, slipped into my jeans, sneakers and T-shirt and broke camp.
-- Reginald McKnight, White Boys: Stories
Any moment now and Max Linder would ride out from around the corner on a pair of white horses, fire blanks at a passing beauty, and doff his top hat to hide his face from the policeman.
-- Nina Berberova, The Book of Happiness
Benny doffed his cap grandly.
-- Thomas Maier, Dr. Spock: An American Life
And he became as a pillar of fire to superannuated peoples who had but to doff the lethargy of custom to find themselves young.
-- J. F. A. Pyre, "Byron in Our Day", The Atlantic, April 1907
Doff Middle English doffen, from don off, "to do off," from don, "to do" + off, "off."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for doff
