/ · 1894 Brewer’s · D · Doff
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
is do-off, as “Doff your hat.” So Don is do-on, as “Don your clothes.” Dup is do-up, as “Dup the door” (q.v.).
“Doff thy barness, youth,
And tempt not yet the brushes of the war.”
1
Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, v 3.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.