Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

doff


Listen Later

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 27, 2025 is:

doff • \DAHF\  • verb

To doff a hat or other piece of clothing is to take it off.

// They doffed their coats when they came inside the house.

See the entry >

Examples:

“On the ferry from Oakland to San Francisco [Oscar] Wilde was introduced to a group of reporters who courteously doffed their hats. Wilde failed to return the gesture, much to the annoyance of one interviewer who used it as a pretext for blasting Wilde in his article.” — Rob Marland, LitHub.com, 11 Mar. 2024

Did you know?

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.”



...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Merriam-Webster's Word of the DayBy Merriam-Webster

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

1,229 ratings


More shows like Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

View all
This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

91,069 Listeners

Modern Love by The New York Times

Modern Love

8,861 Listeners

TED Radio Hour by NPR

TED Radio Hour

22,033 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,506 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,689 Listeners

TED Talks Daily by TED

TED Talks Daily

11,174 Listeners

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by QuickAndDirtyTips.com

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

2,836 Listeners

Science Quickly by Scientific American

Science Quickly

1,383 Listeners

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine.

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

2,290 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,204 Listeners

Life Kit by NPR

Life Kit

4,379 Listeners

Short Wave by NPR

Short Wave

6,420 Listeners

No Stupid Questions by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

No Stupid Questions

3,652 Listeners

Word Matters by Merriam-Webster, New England Public Media

Word Matters

485 Listeners

How to Be a Better Human by TED

How to Be a Better Human

1,389 Listeners