To remove or take off (clothing or a hat), or to shed something in a respectful manner.
From Middle English 'doffen,' a contraction of 'do off' (do = remove, off = away). Shakespeare used this word, and it survived in dialect and literary English.
Medieval people said 'do off' (remove) just like they said 'do on' (put on), but 'doff' survived as a poetic word while the plain version disappeared—language is full of old words that sound fancy now just because they're rare.
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