"do one's duty" meaning in English

See do one's duty in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: does one's duty [present, singular, third-person], doing one's duty [participle, present], did one's duty [past], done one's duty [participle, past]
Etymology: From doo-doo, doody, etc. used as euphemisms for shit. Head templates: {{en-verb|do<does,,did,done> one's duty}} do one's duty (third-person singular simple present does one's duty, present participle doing one's duty, simple past did one's duty, past participle done one's duty)
  1. (euphemistic) Synonym of use the toilet: to urinate or defecate. Tags: euphemistic Categories (topical): Bodily functions Synonyms: use the toilet [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-do_one's_duty-en-verb-BSWQDONP Disambiguation of Bodily functions: 85 15 Categories (other): English euphemisms, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 95 5 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 94 6 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 95 5
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see do, duty. Synonyms: use the toilet, urinate and Thesaurus:defecate
    Sense id: en-do_one's_duty-en-verb-p955Nvpl
{
  "etymology_text": "From doo-doo, doody, etc. used as euphemisms for shit.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "does one's duty",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "doing one's duty",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "did one's duty",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "done one's duty",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "do<does,,did,done> one's duty"
      },
      "expansion": "do one's duty (third-person singular simple present does one's duty, present participle doing one's duty, simple past did one's duty, past participle done one's duty)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English euphemisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "95 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "95 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Bodily functions",
          "orig": "en:Bodily functions",
          "parents": [
            "Body",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1996, Derrick Humphreys, John A. Munro, The making of a grey panther: the Derrick Humphreys story, page 8:",
          "text": "And when I was being toilet-trained as a very little boy, she'd always ask, \"Have you done your duty?\" That was the word for it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Alan Watts, Zen and the Beat Way:",
          "text": "If a society is incapable of that kind of trust, it is also incapable of freedom. But if one really believes that only productivity can create strength — that a human being, in other words, has to justify himself or herself by producing something — then maybe the psychoanalysts are right, and everything does go back to toilet training and mother's saying, \"Have you produced today, have you done your duty?\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of use the toilet: to urinate or defecate."
      ],
      "id": "en-do_one's_duty-en-verb-BSWQDONP",
      "links": [
        [
          "use the toilet",
          "use the toilet#English"
        ],
        [
          "urinate",
          "urinate"
        ],
        [
          "defecate",
          "defecate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic) Synonym of use the toilet: to urinate or defecate."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "to urinate or defecate",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "use the toilet"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "euphemistic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see do, duty."
      ],
      "id": "en-do_one's_duty-en-verb-p955Nvpl",
      "links": [
        [
          "do",
          "do#English"
        ],
        [
          "duty",
          "duty#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "word": "use the toilet"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "word": "urinate and Thesaurus:defecate"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "do one's duty"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Bodily functions"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From doo-doo, doody, etc. used as euphemisms for shit.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "does one's duty",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "doing one's duty",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "did one's duty",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "done one's duty",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "do<does,,did,done> one's duty"
      },
      "expansion": "do one's duty (third-person singular simple present does one's duty, present participle doing one's duty, simple past did one's duty, past participle done one's duty)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English euphemisms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1996, Derrick Humphreys, John A. Munro, The making of a grey panther: the Derrick Humphreys story, page 8:",
          "text": "And when I was being toilet-trained as a very little boy, she'd always ask, \"Have you done your duty?\" That was the word for it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Alan Watts, Zen and the Beat Way:",
          "text": "If a society is incapable of that kind of trust, it is also incapable of freedom. But if one really believes that only productivity can create strength — that a human being, in other words, has to justify himself or herself by producing something — then maybe the psychoanalysts are right, and everything does go back to toilet training and mother's saying, \"Have you produced today, have you done your duty?\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of use the toilet: to urinate or defecate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "use the toilet",
          "use the toilet#English"
        ],
        [
          "urinate",
          "urinate"
        ],
        [
          "defecate",
          "defecate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic) Synonym of use the toilet: to urinate or defecate."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "to urinate or defecate",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "use the toilet"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "euphemistic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see do, duty."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "do",
          "do#English"
        ],
        [
          "duty",
          "duty#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "use the toilet"
    },
    {
      "word": "urinate and Thesaurus:defecate"
    }
  ],
  "word": "do one's duty"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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