DO
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do¹
- /də/
- /dʊ/
- /duː/
- /d͡ʒ/ colloquial, uncommon, unstressed before j
- /dy/
- /diː/ Northumbria
- /dɪ/ interrogative
- /dɪv/ before vowel, interrogative
Sounds like doo, Doubs, doux, (yod-dropping) dew, due · Rhymes with -uː
Where it comes from
From Middle English don, from Old English dōn, from Proto-West Germanic *dōn, from Proto-Germanic *dōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do, make”).
For senses 4 and 5, compare Old Norse duga, also Northern English dow.
The past tense form is from Middle English didde, dude, from Old English dyde, *diede, an unexpected development from Proto-Germanic *dedǭ/*dedē (the expected reflex would be *ded), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰédʰeh₁ti, an athematic e-reduplicated verb of the same root *dʰeh₁-.
The meaningless use of do in interrogative, negative, and affirmative sentences (e.g. "Do you like painting?" "Yes, I do"), existing in some form in most Germanic languages, is thought by some linguists to be one of the Brittonicisms in English, calqued from Brythonic. It is first recorded in Middle English, where it may have marked the perfective aspect, though in some cases the meaning seems to be imperfective. In Early Modern English, any meaning in such contexts was lost, making it a dummy auxiliary, and soon thereafter its use became mandatory in most questions and negations.
Doublets include deed, deem, and -dom, but not deal.
Other cognates include, via Latin, English feast, festival, fair (“celebration”), via Greek, English theo-, theme, thesis, and Sanskrit दधाति (dadhāti, “to put”), धातृ (dhātṛ, “creator”) and धातु (dhātu, “layer, element, root”).
verb does · doing · did · done · do
- A syntactic marker in a question whose main verb is not another auxiliary verb or be. Do you go there often?
- A syntactic marker in negations with the indicative and imperative moods. I do not go there often.
- A syntactic marker for emphasis with the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods. But I do go sometimes.
- A syntactic marker that refers back to an earlier verb and allows the speaker to avoid repeating the verb; in most dialects, not used with auxiliaries such as be, though it can be in AAVE. I play tennis; she does too.
- Should; ought to (especially in respect of a task to be repeated). Do I just call every number on the list each time?
- Used to form the present progressive of verbs. ...An' the dogs do bark, an' the rooks be a-vled to the elems high and dark, an' the water do roar at mill.
- To perform; to execute. If you want something done, do it yourself.
- To cause or make (someone) (do something). And also my lorde abbot of westmynster ded do shewe to me late, certayn euydences wryton in olde englysshe […];
- To suffice. make it do or do without
- To be reasonable or acceptable. It simply will not do to have dozens of children running around such a quiet event.
- To have (as an effect). The fresh air did him some good.
- To fare, perform (well or poorly). Our relationship isn't doing very well; how do you do?
- To fare well; to thrive; to prosper; (of livestock) to fatten. A big framed beast takes a lot of food — expensive food at that [—] to keep it doing […]
- To have as one's job. What does Bob do? — He's a plumber.
- To perform the tasks or actions associated with (something). Don't forget to do your report!
- To cook. I'll just do some eggs.
- To travel in or through, to tour, to make a circuit of. Let’s do New York also.
- To treat in a certain way. They did me well, I assure you—uncommon well: Bollinger of '84; green chartreuse fit for a prince; […]
- To work for or on, by way of caring for, looking after, preparing, cleaning, keeping in order, etc. The woman-who-did did not do very well, Juliet thought.
- To act or behave in a certain manner; to conduct oneself. Vnto this day they doe after the former manners: they feare not the Lord, neither doe they after their Statutes, or after their Ordinances, or after the Law and Commaundement which the Lord commaunded the children of Iacob, whom hee named Iſrael,[…]
- To spend (time) in jail. (See also do time) I did five years for armed robbery.
- To impersonate or depict. They really laughed when he did Clinton, with a perfect accent and a leer.
- To copy or emulate the actions or behaviour that is associated with the person or thing mentioned. He did a Henry VIII and got married six times.
- To kill. Case pulled the .22 out of his pocket and levelled it at Wage's crotch. “I hear you wanna do me.”
- To deal with for good and all; to finish up; to undo; to ruin; to do for. Sometimes they lie in wait in these dark streets, and fracture his skull, […] or break his arm, or cut the sinew of his wrist; and that they call doing him.
- To punish for a misdemeanor. He got done for speeding.
- To have sex with. (See also do it) Deme[trius]. Villaine vvhat haſt thou done? / A[aron]. That vvhich thou canſt not vndoe. / Chiron. Thou haſt vndone our mother. / Aron. Villaine I haue done thy mother.
- To masturbate. I got horny from his nudes and ended up doing myself to them.
- To cheat or swindle. That guy just did me out of two hundred bucks!
- To convert into a certain form; especially, to translate. the novel has just been done into English; I'm going to do this play into a movie
- To finish.
- To cash or to advance money for, as a bill or note.
- To make or provide. Could you do me a burger with mayonnaise instead of ketchup?
- To provide as a service. Do they do haircuts there?
- To injure (one's own body part). "Defender Kolo Toure admitted Given will be a loss, but gave his backing to Nielsen. 'I think he's done his shoulder,' said the Ivorian."
- To take (a drug). I do cocaine.
- To exist with a purpose or for a reason. What's that car doing in our swimming pool?
- To drive a vehicle at a certain speed, especially in regard to a speed limit. He was doing 50 [miles per hour] in a school zone.
- To perform something suggested by a following noun, verb, or adjective. did a listen do someone a frighten doing her a cute
noun dos · do's · doos · de · dee
- A party, celebration, social function; usually of moderate size and formality. We’re having a bit of a do on Saturday to celebrate my birthday.
- Clipping of hairdo.hairdo Nice do!
- Something that can or should be done. Don’t forget the dos and don’ts.
- Something that has been done. "How come you quit?" "I'm moving to London." "Fair dos."
- Ado; bustle; stir; to-do; A period of confusion or argument. A great deal of do, and a great deal of trouble.
- A cheat; a swindler.
- An act of swindling; a fraud or deception.
- A homicide. Get it done, no not properly Them man thought that they got me True, I came back like a fucking zombie Attempted do with the ching Have an opp boy say “please don’t chong me!”
do²
- /dəʊ/ UK
- /doʊ/ US
Sounds like doe, d'oh, dough (toe–tow merger) · Rhymes with -əʊ
Where it comes from
Coined by Italian musicologist Giovanni Battista Doni in 1635 as an easier-to-sing open-syllable revision to the solmization ut of Guido of Arezzo, from the first syllable of Latin Dominus (“The Lord”) (speculated by some to be an ulterior abbreviation of Giovanni Battista Doni) on the pattern of other Latinate solfège with the stated justification that God is the tonic and root of the world.
noun dos · doh · Do
- A syllable used in solfège to represent the first and eighth tonic of a major scale.
do³
Where it comes from
Short for ditto.
adverb do.
- Abbreviation of ditto.ditto Softest flowers, .. J. P. Robson, 335 / Stars of Hartlepool, .. do 356
do⁴
- /dəʊ/ UK
- /doʊ/ US
Where it comes from
Shortening of dozen.
number
- The cardinal number occurring after el and before do one in a duodecimal system. Written 10, decimal value 12.
DO⁵
noun DOs
- Initialism of direct object.direct object
- a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
- Initialism of dissolved oxygen.dissolved oxygen
- Initialism of disto-occlusal.disto-occlusal
- Initialism of district officer.district officer
