doff

verb

1. (transitive)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, […]”

   “Thou vveare a Lyons hide, doff it for ſhame, / And hang a Calues skin on thoſe recreant limbes.”

   “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.”

   “[T]hen made him d'off thoſe vveeds: / And ſent the Mightie vnto mightie deeds.”

   “Upon a riſing bank I ſat adovvn, / Then doff'd my ſhoe, […]”

2. (transitive)To remove or take off (something worn on the body such as armour or clothing, or something carried).

   “The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy.”

   “[H]is courtesy to show, / He doffed, to Marmion bending low, / His broidered cap and plume.”

   “Were there really seventy-three ways to doff one's hat? / There were! I'd rather suspected that”

3. (dialectal, reflexive, transitive)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.”

4. (figuratively, transitive)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.”

   “[H]ee (to requite their courteſie) oftentimes d'offeth off his ovvne Nature, and puts of theirs; as vvhen hee becomes as churliſh as a Hogge, or as drunke as a Sovv: […]”

   “Novv is the time of helpe: your eye in Scotland / VVould create Soldiours, make our vvomen fight, / To doffe their dire diſtreſſes.”

   “Thus death, vvho kings and tars deſpatches, / Tom's life hath vainly doff'd; / For though his body's under hatches, / His ſoul is gone aloft.”

5. (transitive)To remove (a bobbin or spindle which is full of spun yarn) from a spinning frame for replacement with an empty one.
6. (transitive)To remove (small pieces of cotton or other plant fibre, etc.) from a carding cylinder.
7. (obsolete, transitive)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: […]”

   “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; […]”

8. (archaic, intransitive, rare)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.”

9. (intransitive, obsolete, rare)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.”

noun

1. (obsolete, rare)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.”