Definition do
Etymology 1
From Middle English don, from Old English dōn, from Proto-Germanic *dōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do, make”).
The past tense form is from Middle English didde, dude, from Old English dyde, *diede, from Proto-Germanic *dedǭ/*dedē, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰédʰeh₁ti, an athematic e-reduplicated verb of the same root *dʰeh₁-.
The use of do in interrogative, negative, and, formerly, affirmative sentences, unusual in Germanic languages, is thought to be calqued from Brythonic.
Verb
do (third-person singular simple present does, present participle doing, simple past did, past participle done)
- (auxiliary) A syntactic marker
- (auxiliary) A syntactic marker in a question whose main verb is not another auxiliary verb or be.
- (auxiliary) A syntactic marker in negations with the indicative and imperative moods.
- (auxiliary) A syntactic marker for emphasis with the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods.
- (pro-verb) A syntactic marker that refers back to an earlier verb and allows the speaker to avoid repeating the verb; not generally used with auxiliaries such as "be".
- (African American Vernacular) Can refer back to "be".
- (transitive) To perform; to execute.
- (obsolete, transitive) To cause, make (someone) (do something).
- (intransitive, transitive) To suffice.
- (intransitive) To be reasonable or acceptable.
- (ditransitive) To have (as an effect).
- (intransitive) To fare, perform (well or poorly).
- (transitive, chiefly in questions) To have as one's job.
- To perform the tasks or actions associated with (something)
- To cook.
- (transitive) To travel in, to tour, to make a circuit of.
- (transitive) To treat in a certain way.
- (transitive) To work for or on, by way of caring for, looking after, preparing, cleaning, keeping in order, etc.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To act or behave in a certain manner; to conduct oneself.
- (transitive) (see also do time) To spend (time) in jail.
- (transitive) To impersonate or depict.
- (transitive, slang) To kill.
- (transitive, slang) To deal with for good and all; to finish up; to undo; to ruin; to do for.
- (informal) To punish for a misdemeanor.
- (transitive, slang) To have sex with. (See also do it)
- (transitive) To cheat or swindle.
- (transitive) To convert into a certain form; especially, to translate.
- (transitive, intransitive) To finish.
- (Britain, dated, intransitive) To work as a domestic servant (with for).
- (archaic, dialectal, transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the present progressive of verbs.
- (stock exchange) To cash or to advance money for, as a bill or note.
- (informal, transitive, ditransitive) To make or provide.
- (informal, transitive) To injure (one's own body part).
- (transitive) To take drugs.
- (transitive, in the form be doing [somewhere]) To exist with a purpose or for a reason.
Noun
do (plural dos)
- (colloquial) A party, celebration, social function.
- (informal) A hairdo.
- Something that can or should be done (usually in the phrase dos and don'ts).
- (obsolete) A deed; an act.
- (archaic) Ado; bustle; stir; to-do; A period of confusion or argument.
- (obsolete, Britain, slang) A cheat; a swindler.
- (obsolete, Britain, slang) An act of swindling; a fraud or deception.
Etymology 2
From the name of musicologist Giovanni Battista Doni, who suggested replacing the original ut with an open syllable for ease of singing. First found in Italian.
Noun
do (plural dos)
- (music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the first and eighth tonic of a major scale.
Etymology 3
Short for ditto.
Adverb
do (not comparable)
- (rare) Abbreviation of ditto.