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Doff vs Don
Time was, people talked about doffing and donning articles of clothing with about the same frequency. But in the mid-19th century the verb don became significantly more popular and left doff to flounder a bit in linguistic semi-obscurity. Doff and don have been a pair from the start: both date to the 14th century, with doff arising as a Middle English contraction of the phrase “to do off” and don as a contraction of “to do on.” Shakespeare was among the first, as far as we know, to use the word as it’s defined in the more general sense of “to rid oneself of” or “put aside.” He has Juliet give voice to this sense when she says, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet. / … Romeo, doff thy name; / And for that name, which is no part of thee, / Take all myself.”
Examples of doff in a Sentence
Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025
Impressive stuff, and be sure to doff your cap to swing man Tim Stauffer, whose 0.49 ERA in 18 1/3 innings led the unit.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2025
Laurie, the only single lady in the crowd, doffs her top and drunkenly delights the guys with stories about her corporate career and her costly divorce.
—Noel Murray, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2025
By the end of the set, the band members are plenty sweaty, which Alfaro, Curry, and Graves address by doffing their shirts.
—Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for doff
Cite this Entry
“Doff.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doff. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
doff
verb
Middle English doffen "to take off," from don "to do" and of "off"
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