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Glite Dictionary
👷 A bobbin worker 🧵 A yarn remover
doffer

doffer

1 9.9
A worker who removes full bobbins from spinning machines and replaces them with empty ones
  • noun
  • /ˈdɔfər/
  • Archaic
: desbobinador
  • In the textile mill, the doffer quickly replaced the full spindles with empty ones.

Examples

  • Every day, the doffer worked hard to ensure that the bobbins were exchanged promptly.

  • The skilled doffer was essential for keeping the spinning machines running smoothly.

  • So you've got a nice sized little doffer here.

Surface Forms

doffer singular
doffers plural

Morphology

doffer = doff (transparent) = doff + er

A standard agentive formation: the worker who 'doffs' is named with '-er', which is a common and transparent process.

Etymology

Doffer comes from the verb doff, from the old phrase do off, meaning 'take off', and you can see doff in the phrase 'doff your hat'. The -er ending means 'one who', so a doffer is a worker who 'takes off' full bobbins from spinning machines, which explains the name.