daff

¹ American  

[daf] / dæf /

verb (used without object)

Scot. and North England.

1. to make sport; dally; play.

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daff ² American  

[daf] / dæf /

verb (used with object)

1. Archaic. to turn or thrust aside.

2. Obsolete. to doff.

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daff ¹ British  

/ dæf /

noun

1. informal short for daffodil

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daff ² British  

/ dɑːf /

verb

1. (intr) to frolic; play the fool

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Etymology

Origin of daff¹

1525–35; v. use of daff (obsolete) a fool, Middle English daffe (noun); daft

Origin of daff²

First recorded in 1590–1600; alteration of doff

Example Sentences

Their cheerfulness and gayety is irrepressible, and no people on earth understand better how "to daff the world aside and bid it pass."

From The Oregon Trail: sketches of prairie and Rocky-Mountain life by Parkman, Francis

At thorny bush, or birken tree, We 'll daff and never weary, O!

From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume I. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century by Rogers, Charles

But, ah! while we daff in the sunshine of youth, We see na' the blasts that destroy; We count na' upon the fell waes that may come, An eithly o'ercloud a' our joy.

From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century by Rogers, Charles

No that the King is sair to live with either, so that he can eat and drink and daff, and be let alone to take his ease.

From Two Penniless Princesses by Yonge, Charlotte Mary

Where is his son, The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales, And his comrades, that daff the world aside, And bid it pass?

From King Henry IV, Part 1 by Shakespeare, William