| 释义 |
▪ 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.
c1325Poem 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. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 129 ‘Þou dotest daffe’ quaþ heo ‘Dulle are þi wittes.’ c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 288 And when this Iape is tald another day I sal been halde a daf, a cokenay. c1440Promp. Parv. 111/2 Daffe, or dastard, or he þat spekythe not yn tyme, oridurus. 1587Harrison 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’. 1616Bullokar, Daffe, a dastard. 1876Whitby 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.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 342 Quhat do ȝe now? I se ȝe do bot daf. a1605Polwart Flyting w. Montg. 662 Dastard, thou daffes, that with such divilrie mels. 1813Picken Poems I. 175 (Jam.) Come yont the green an' daff wi' me, My charming dainty Davy. 1876Whitby Gloss., Daff, to chat in a daudling way; to loiter. Also to falter in memory; ‘beginning to daff’. 1886Stevenson Kidnapped iv. 30 Gentlemen daffing at their wine.
†2. trans. To daunt. north. dial. Obs.
1674Ray 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.
1597Shakes. 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).
1596Shakes. 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. 1601Weever Mirr. Mart. A vij, We daft the world with time ourselues beguiled. 1820Keats Lamia ii. 160 Some knotty problem, that had daft His patient thought. 1880Goldw. Smith in Atl. Monthly No. 268. 202 We have no right to daff a pessimist's argument aside merely because [etc.]. 1884Sat. Rev. 14 June 787/1 Its pleasant fashion of daffing the world aside.
†b. To put off (with an excuse, etc.). Obs.
1604Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 176 Euery day thou dafts [v.r. doffest] me with some deuise Iago.
▪ IV. daff|dæf|
Colloq. abbrev. of daffodil.
1915C. Mackenzie Guy & Pauline vi. 307 ‘We shall have all the daffs gone before we know where we are,’ said the Rector. 1934D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors ii. i. 69 You want a few more daffs. on the decani side, Mrs. Venables. |