do

Do you go there often?

(auxiliary) A syntactic marker in a question whose main verb is not another auxiliary verb or be.

A syntactic marker in a question whose main verb is not another auxiliary verb or be.

I do not go there often.

Do not listen to him.

“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 51:

(auxiliary) A syntactic marker in negations with the indicative and imperative moods.

A syntactic marker in negations with the indicative and imperative moods.

But I do go sometimes.

Do tell us.

“I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. […]”

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

"Do stop it," said Susan; "it won't make things any better having a row between you two. Let's go and find Lucy."

1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

(auxiliary) A syntactic marker for emphasis with the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods.

A syntactic marker for emphasis with the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods.

I play tennis; she does too.

They don't think it be like it is, but it do. (nonstandard)

Don't be a naughty baby,
Come to papa, come to papa, do!
My sweet embraceable you.

1930, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Embraceable You:

(pro-verb) 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.

...An' the dogs do bark, an' the rooks be a-vled to the elems high and dark, an' the water do roar at mill.

1844, William Barnes, “Evenén in the Village”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:

present progressive
present progressive#English

(auxiliary, archaic, dialectal) Used to form the present progressive of verbs.

Used to form the present progressive of verbs.

If you want something done, do it yourself.

All you ever do is surf the Internet. What will you do this afternoon?

The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",[…]and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:

And also my lorde abbot of westmynster ded do shewe to me late, certayn euydences wryton in olde englysshe […]

1490, William Caxton, “Prologue”, in Eneydos (in Middle English); republished as Caxton's Eneydos, London: Early English Text Society, 1890, page 2:

Sometimes to do him laugh, ſhe would aſſay / To laugh at ſhaking off the leaues light, / Or to behold the water worke […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 7, page 258:

Emongſt the reſt a wicked maladie / Raign’d emongſt men, that manie did to die,[…]

1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC:

MOreouer, brethren, wee do you to wit [i.e. we make you to know] of the grace of God beſtowed on the Churches of Macedonia,[…]

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 8:1, column 1:

(obsolete, transitive) To cause, make (someone) (do something).

To cause, make (someone) (do something).

it’s not the best broom, but it will have to do; this will do me, thanks.

"Here," she said, "take your old Bunny! He'll do to sleep with you!" And she dragged the Rabbit out by one ear, and put him into the Boy's arms.

1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit:

It simply will not do to have dozens of children running around such a quiet event.

(intransitive) To be reasonable or acceptable.

The fresh air did him some good.

Our relationship isn't doing very well; how do you do?

Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.

2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

(intransitive) To fare, perform (well or poorly).

A big framed beast takes a lot of food — expensive food at that [—] to keep it doing […]

1908 September 21, “The fattening beast”, in Mark Lane Express Agricultural Journal, page 340:

That farm would go like a rick a-fire. It would do: it would go forward and prosper and make him his money.

1971, George Ewart Evans, quoting ploughman Charles Last (born 1878), Tools of Their Trades: An Oral History of Men at Work c. 1900, Taplinger Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 68:

(especially England, intransitive) To fare well; to thrive; to prosper; (of livestock) to fatten.

To fare well; to thrive; to prosper; (of livestock) to fatten.

What does Bob do? — He's a plumber.

(transitive, chiefly in questions) To have as one's job.

Don't forget to do your report!

(transitive) To perform the tasks or actions associated with (something).

To perform the tasks or actions associated with (something).

I'll just do some eggs.

It seemed, from his account, that he was very good at doing scrambled eggs.

1889, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat […] :

We went down below, and the galley-slave did some ham and eggs, and the first lieutenant, who was aged 19, told me about Sicily, and time went like a flash.

1944, “News from the Suburbs”, in Punch:

Next morning, they woke about ten o'clock, Kev, went for a shower while Alice, did some toast, put the kettle on, and when he came out, she went in.

2005, Alan Tansley, The Grease Monkey, page 99:

We 'did' London to our hearts' content,—thanks to Fred and Frank,—and were sorry to go away; […]

1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Our Foreign Correspondent”, in Little Women: […], part second, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC, page 115:

After doing Paris and its suburbs, I started for London […]

1892, James Batchelder, Multum in Parvo: Notes from the Life and Travels of James Batchelder, page 97:

No tourist can get credit for seeing America first without doing New York, the Wonderful Town, the Baghdad-on-Hudson, the dream in the eye of the Kansas hooker […]

1968 July 22, Ralph Schoenstein, “Nice Place to Visit”, in New York Magazine, page 28:

Let’s do New York also.

(transitive) To travel in, to tour, to make a circuit of.

To travel in, to tour, to make a circuit of.

They did me well, I assure you—uncommon well: Bollinger of '84; green chartreuse fit for a prince; […]

1894, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume 87, page 59, column 1:

Upon my word, although he [my host] certainly did me uncommonly well, I began to feel I'd be more at ease among the bushmen.

1928, Dorothy L[eigh] Sayers, “The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers”, in Lord Peter Views the Body:

"Why you gonna do me like that?" I ask. "Do what?" "Dog me."

1994, Jervey Tervalon, Understand This, →ISBN, page 50:

Christmas, why you gotta do me like this / I always embraced you / Held you close inside my heart

2023, “Christmas, Why You Gotta Do Me Like This”, performed by Eels:

The woman-who-did did not do very well, Juliet thought.

2018, Kate Atkinson, Transcription, →ISBN, page 291:

(transitive) To work for or on, by way of caring for, looking after, preparing, cleaning, keeping in order, etc.

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,[…]

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 17:34, column 2:

(intransitive, obsolete) To act or behave in a certain manner; to conduct oneself.

To act or behave in a certain manner; to conduct oneself.

I did five years for armed robbery.

(transitive) To spend (time) in jail. (See also do time)

To spend (time) in jail. (See also do time)

They really laughed when he did Clinton, with a perfect accent and a leer.

He did a Henry VIII and got married six times.

He was planning to do a 9/11.

(transitive, with 'a' and the name of a person, place, event, etc.) To copy or emulate the actions or behaviour that is associated with the person or thing mentioned.

Case pulled the .22 out of his pocket and levelled it at Wage's crotch. “I hear you wanna do me.”

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 22:

About a year ago, a boy name Brandon got got here in Baltimore. Stuck and burned before he passed. […] Wasn't no need for y'all to do him the way y'all did.

2003 August 17, George Pelecanos, “Bad Dreams” (43:27 from the start), in The Wire, season 2, episode 11 (television production), spoken by Omar Little (Michael K. Williams), via HBO:

He's gonna do me, Jarvis. I kid you not, this time he's gonna do me proper.

2004, Patrick Stevens, Politics Is the Greatest Game: A Johannesburg Liberal Lampoon, →ISBN, page 314:

The order came and I did him right there. The bullet went right where it was supposed to go.

2007, E.J. Churchill, The Lazarus Code, page 153:

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.

1870, Charles Reade, Put Yourself in His Place:

(transitive, slang) To deal with for good and all; to finish up; to undo; to ruin; to do for.

To deal with for good and all; to finish up; to undo; to ruin; to do for.

He got done for speeding.

Teacher'll do you for that!

(transitive, informal) To punish for a misdemeanor.

Deme. Villaine what haſt thou done?
A. That which thou canſt not vndoe.
Chiron. Thou haſt vndone our mother.
Aron. Villaine I haue done thy mother.

c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

[…] one day I did her on the kitchen table, and several times on the dining-room table.

1996, James Russell Kincaid, My Secret Life, page 81:

The uninhibited woman within wanted to do him right there on the countertop, but I remained composed.

(transitive, slang) To have sex with. (See also do it)

That guy just did me out of two hundred bucks!

He was not to be done, at his time of life, by frivolous offers of a compromise that might have secured him seventy-five per cent.

1852, Thomas De Quincey, Sir William Hamilton:

the novel has just been done into English; I'm going to do this play into a movie

(transitive) To convert into a certain form; especially, to translate.

To convert into a certain form; especially, to translate.

(stock exchange) To cash or to advance money for, as a bill or note.

To cash or to advance money for, as a bill or note.

Do they do haircuts there?

Could you do me a burger with mayonnaise instead of ketchup?

(informal, transitive, ditransitive) To make or provide.

"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."

2010 April 24, “Given stretchered off with suspected broken shoulder”, in The Irish Times, retrieved 2015-07-21:

"Watto will spend the entire winter stretching and doing Pilates, and do a hamstring after bending down to pick up his petrol cap after dropping it filling his car at Caltex Cronulla."

2014 April 14, Matt Cleary, “What do Australia's cricketers do on holiday?”, in ESPNcricinfo, retrieved 2015-07-21:

"'I knew straight away I'd done my ACL, I heard the sound - it was very loud and a few of the boys said they heard it as well,' Otten said."

2014 August 13, Harry Thring, “I knew straight away I'd done my ACL: Otten”, in AFL.com.au, retrieved 2015-07-21:

(informal, transitive) To injure (one's own body part).

I do cocaine.

What's that car doing in our swimming pool?

(transitive, in the form be doing [somewhere]) To exist with a purpose or for a reason.

To exist with a purpose or for a reason.

He was doing 50 [miles per hour] in a school zone.

(informal, transitive) To drive a vehicle at a certain speed, especially in regard to a speed limit.

To drive a vehicle at a certain speed, especially in regard to a speed limit.

en-verb

do (third-person singular simple present does, present participle doing, simple past did, past participle done)

does (present singular third-person)
doing (participle present)
did (past)
done (participle past)
do (infinitive)

do unto others as you would have them do unto you

never put off until tomorrow what you can do today

the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing

the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must

those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it

what does that have to do with the price of corn

what does that have to do with the price of fish

what does that have to do with the price of tea in China

who are you and what have you done with someone

you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone

you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't

not used in Dutch (translated by inversion)

est-ce que (or translated by inversion of the verb and subject)

tun

in colloquial speech, certain dialects, baby-language

ay

positioned at the beginning of a sentence

tehdä

emulate behaviour generally attributed to the individual named

Brittonicisms in English
Do
Do-support
Early Modern English

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, whence Danish du.
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”).

der

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do, make”)


do

We’re having a bit of a do on Saturday to celebrate my birthday.

She was into French cuisine but I ain't no Cordon Bleu / This was at some do in Palmers Green, I had no luck with her

1980, Jona Lewie, Keef Trouble (lyrics and music), “You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties”, performed by Jona Lewie:

A gross-gutted, bulb-nosed, bourbon-stanky Boston flatfoot in plain clothes wrinkled white sox, with a race track tip-sheet stuffed in his back pocket trying real hard to mingle unnoticed at an elegant Buddies "do" to glean inside-dope.

1980 December 13, Mitzel, “Dale Barbre's Murder Transformed”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 21, page 13:

[…]; this aside, though, neon forever the moniker of trash, this is a posh do, in an opera house full of folk in tuxes.

2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards”, in The Guardian:

(UK, informal) A party, celebration, social function; usually of moderate size and formality.

Alternative form: 'do

Nice do!

I don't like to spend time on my hairstyle, so I usually just wear a do-rag.

I like the new do.

2012, Hannah Richell, The Secrets of the Tides, →ISBN, page 464:

Don't forget the dos and don'ts.

With the coming of Monday arrived a new life for David—a curious life full of "don'ts" and "dos."

1916, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter VIII, in Just David:

(chiefly fossilized) Something that can or should be done.

"How come you quit?" "I'm moving to London." "Fair dos."

(chiefly obsolete, fossilized in the UK) Something that has been done.

A great deal of do, and a great deal of trouble.

(archaic) Ado; bustle; stir; to-do; A period of confusion or argument.

(obsolete, UK, slang) A cheat; a swindler.

(obsolete, UK, slang) An act of swindling; a fraud or deception.

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!”

2020 December 4, “No fibs” (1:34 from the start), in (Zone 2) Karma × Trizzac (lyrics), Demented:

en-noun

do (plural dos or do's or (uncommon) doos)

dos (plural)
do's (plural)
doos (plural uncommon)


do

(music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the first and eighth tonic of a major scale.

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 Lᴏʀᴅ”) (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.


do

The cardinal number occurring after el and before do one in a duodecimal system. Written 10, decimal value 12.