▪ I. daft, a. Now chiefly Sc. and north.
(dɑːft, -æ-)
[In early ME. daffte, corresp. to OE. ᵹedæfte mild, gentle, meek:—OTeut. *gadaftjo-z, f. gadafti vbl. n. from stem daƀ-, in Gothic gadaban to become, be fit, OE. pa. pple. ᵹedafen becoming, fit, suitable. The æ here is app. for umlaut ę before ft, st, which explains the two-fold ME. development daft and deft. The primary meaning of the adj. must have been ‘becoming, fit’; cf. the adv. ᵹedæftl{iacu}ce fitly, suitably, seasonably, and the vb. ᵹedæftan to make fit or ready, to prepare; from ‘fit, ready, apt’ came the general later sense of deft; from ‘becoming, decens’ as said of persons, came that of ‘meek, mild, innocent’, and from ‘innocent, inoffensive’ app. that of ‘irrational’ said of beasts, and of ‘silly, foolish, deficient in sense’ as said of persons: cf. a common sense of ‘innocent’, and the sense-history of silly. See also deft.
daff, ‘a fool,’ is found c 1325; its relationship to daft is uncertain; if originally distinct, it may have contributed to the development of the sense ‘foolish’ here.]
† 1. Mild, gentle, meek, humble. Obs.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 5 Nu þin cyning þe cymð to þe ᵹedæfte. c 1200 Ormin 2175 Shammfasst, and daffte, and sedefull. Ibid. 4610 And meoc, and daffte, and sedefull. |
2. Silly, foolish, stupid. Cf. innocent, silly. a. Said of beasts.
| c 1325 Body & Soul 302 in Map's Poems 343 Ne wuste what was good or il, But as a beest, doumbe and daft. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 81 Who sayes ane sheepe is daft, they lie of it. |
b. Of persons: Wanting in intelligence, stupid, foolish.
| c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 443 Bot to make it I am daft, For I can noȝt of potter craft. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 2008 Thou art the daftest fuill that ever I saw. 1570 Levins Manip. 9/33 Dafte, doltishe, stupidus. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 462 Cast away these daft conceits, and..take you seriouslie to your booke and studies. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 13 Daft, stupid, blockish, daunted, a verbo Daffe. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Daft, dull of apprehension. |
3. Of unsound mind, crazy, insane, mad.
| 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. viii, He that was trublit with the falling evil, or fallin daft or wod. 1540 Ld. Treas. Accts. Scot., Makand him Curatour to P.N. quhilk is daft, and hes na wit to gyde him selff. 1816 Scott Old Mort. vii, ‘The woman would drive ony reasonable being daft.’ 1829 Arnold Let. in Stanley Life & Corr. (1844) I. v. 254, I hope you will not think I ought to..adjourn to the next asylum for daft people. 1880 R. G. White Every-Day Eng. 122 We have preserved our common sense, and have not gone clean daft. |
4. Thoughtless or giddy in one's mirth; madly gay or frolicsome. daft days: the days of merriment at Christmas.
| c 1575 Dial. betw. Clerk & Courtier (Jam.), Quhen ye your selfis ar daft and young. 1768 Ross Helenore 117 (Jam.) Awa, she says, Whaever's daft to day, it setsna you. 1787 Burns Twa Dogs 155 In a frolic daft. a 1774 Fergusson Poems (1789) II. 10 (title) The Daft Days. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxi, ‘Ay, ay—they were daft days thae—but they were a' vanity and waur.’ 1832–53 Whistle-binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. iii. 81 At Yule, when the daft-days are fairly set in, A ploy without him wadna be worth a pin. |
† 5. = deft, skilful. Obs.
| ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) 134 (MS. 1592) For semlye he was and wounder dafte [MS. Harl. (1607) 2124 wondrous defte]. |
Hence † dafteliȝk, daffteleȝȝc [ON. -leikr suffix of action or condition], gentleness, meekness. ˈdaftie (colloq.), a daft person. ˈdaftish a., somewhat daft. ˈdaftlike a., having an appearance of folly or craziness. ˈdaftly adv., † (a) mildly, meekly (obs.); (b) foolishly. ˈdaftness, foolishness, madness.
| c 1200 Ormin 2188 Forr kaggerrleȝȝc shall don þatt ȝho Shall daffteleȝȝc forrwerrpenn. 1872 C. Gibbon For the King i, The daftie still maintained his position. 1825 Jamieson, Daftish, in some degree deranged. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., A daftish dizzy sort of a body. 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. iv. i, 'Tis sae daftlike. 1816 Scott Antiq. iv, Never think you..that his honour..would hae done sic a daft-like thing. c 1200 Ormin 1215 And haȝherrlike ledesst te And dafftelike and faȝȝre. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 34 We daftly thought to row in rowth. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. 151 The word of the crosse semis to be daftnes and folie to thame that perischis. |
▪ II. daft
pa. tense of daff v.2