▪ I. daff, n. Obs. exc. north. dial.
(dɑːf, -æ-)
Also 4–5 daf, 4–6 daffe.
[Etymology uncertain: cf. daft.
It has been conjecturally referred to ON. dauf deaf, dull, savourless, which survives in Sc. dowf, douf dull, spiritless, but this is phonetically inadmissible.]
One deficient in sense or in proper spirit; a simpleton, a fool; a coward.
| c 1325 Poem Times Edw. II, 99 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 328 If the parsoun have a prest of a clene lyf..Shal comen a daffe and putte him out..That can noht a ferthing worth of god. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 129 ‘Þou dotest daffe’ quaþ heo ‘Dulle are þi wittes.’ c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 288 And when this Iape is tald another day I sal been halde a daf, a cokenay. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 111/2 Daffe, or dastard, or he þat spekythe not yn tyme, oridurus. 1587 Harrison England ii. ii. (1877) i. 58 Certes it [Landaffe] is a poore bishoprike..the late incumbent thereof being called for..in open court made answer: The daffe is here, but the land is gone’. 1616 Bullokar, Daffe, a dastard. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Daff, a half-wit; a coward. |
▪ II. daff, v.1 Chiefly Sc.
(dɑːf, -æ-)
[f. daff n.
Cf. the dial. daffle to become stupid, grow imbecile; also to dumbfounder, confuse the faculties; daffly imbecile, stupid from failure of the faculties. Whitby Gloss.]
1. intr. To play the fool; to make sport, toy, dally, talk or behave sportively.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 342 Quhat do ȝe now? I se ȝe do bot daf. a 1605 Polwart Flyting w. Montg. 662 Dastard, thou daffes, that with such divilrie mels. 1813 Picken Poems I. 175 (Jam.) Come yont the green an' daff wi' me, My charming dainty Davy. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Daff, to chat in a daudling way; to loiter. Also to falter in memory; ‘beginning to daff’. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped iv. 30 Gentlemen daffing at their wine. |
† 2. trans. To daunt. north. dial. Obs.
| 1674 Ray N.C. Words 13 Daffe, to Daunt. |
▪ III. daff, v.2
(dɑːf, -æ-)
[A variant of doff to do off, put off.
(Johnson, misunderstanding the pa. tense, as in quot. 1596, made the present stem daft.)]
† 1. trans. To put off (as clothes); to throw off, divest oneself of. Obs.
| 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 297 There my white stole of chastity I daff'd. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. iv. iv. 13 He that vnbuckles this, till we do please To daft [= daff't] for our Repose, shall heare a storme. |
2. To put or turn aside, to thrust aside; esp. in the Shaksperian phrase to daff the world aside (= to bid or make it get out of one's way), and imitations of this (sometimes vaguely or erroneously applied).
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 96 The..Mad-Cap, Prince of Wales, And his Cumrades, that daft the World aside, And bid it passe. 1599 ― Much Ado v. i. 78 Claud. Away, I will not haue to do with you. Leo. Canst thou so daffe me? 1599 ― Pass. Pilgr. 183 She bade good night, that kept my rest away; And daff'd me to a cabin hang'd with care. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. A vij, We daft the world with time ourselues beguiled. 1820 Keats Lamia ii. 160 Some knotty problem, that had daft His patient thought. 1880 Goldw. Smith in Atl. Monthly No. 268. 202 We have no right to daff a pessimist's argument aside merely because [etc.]. 1884 Sat. Rev. 14 June 787/1 Its pleasant fashion of daffing the world aside. |
† b. To put off (with an excuse, etc.). Obs.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 176 Euery day thou dafts [v.r. doffest] me with some deuise Iago. |
▪ IV. daff
(dæf)
Colloq. abbrev. of daffodil.
| 1915 C. Mackenzie Guy & Pauline vi. 307 ‘We shall have all the daffs gone before we know where we are,’ said the Rector. 1934 D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors ii. i. 69 You want a few more daffs. on the decani side, Mrs. Venables. |