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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,[1] is thought by some linguists to be one of the Brittonicisms in English, calqued from Brythonic.[2] 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.
“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.
“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. […]”
1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:
"Do stop it," said Susan; "it won't make things any better having a row between you two. Let's go and find Lucy."
(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.
I play tennis; she does too.
They don't think it be like it is, but it do.(nonstandard)
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.
“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.
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.
A big framed beast takes a lot of food — expensive food at that [—] to keep it doing[…]
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:
That farm would go like a rick a-fire. It would do: it would go forward and prosper and make him his money.
(transitive, chiefly in questions) To have as one's job.
It seemed, from his account, that he was very good at doing scrambled eggs.
1944, “News from the Suburbs”, in Punch:
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.
We 'did' London to our hearts' content,—thanks to Fred and Frank,—and were sorry to go away; […]
1892, James Batchelder, Multum in Parvo: Notes from the Life and Travels of James Batchelder, page 97:
After doing Paris and its suburbs, I started for London […]
1968 July 22, Ralph Schoenstein, “Nice Place to Visit”, in New York Magazine, page 28:
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 […]
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,[…]
They really laughed when he did Clinton, with a perfect accent and a leer.
(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.
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.
2004, Patrick Stevens, Politics Is the Greatest Game: A Johannesburg Liberal Lampoon, →ISBN, page 314:
He's gonna do me, Jarvis. I kid you not, this time he's gonna do me proper.
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.
2010 April 24, “Given stretchered off with suspected broken shoulder”, in The Irish Times, retrieved 2015-07-21:
"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."
2014 April 14, Matt Cleary, “What do Australia's cricketers do on holiday?”, in ESPNcricinfo, 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 August 13, Harry Thring, “I knew straight away I'd done my ACL: Otten”, in AFL.com.au, 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."
He was doing 50 [miles per hour] in a school zone.
Usage notes
In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, this verb possessed second-person singular present indicative forms dost and doest, and a second-person singular past indicative form didst.
Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, this verb possessed third-person singular present indicative forms doth and doeth.
There was a tendency to use the shorter forms dost and doth as auxiliaries, and doest and doeth elsewhere.
We’re having a bit of a do on Saturday to celebrate my birthday.
1980, Jona Lewie, Keef Trouble (lyrics and music), “You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties”, performed by Jona Lewie:
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 December 13, Mitzel, “Dale Barbre's Murder Transformed”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 21, page 13:
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.
2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards”, in The Guardian:
[…]; this aside, though, neon forever the moniker of trash, this is a posh do, in an opera house full of folk in tuxes.
2020 December 4, “No fibs” (1:34 from the start), in (Zone 2) Karma × Trizzac (lyrics), Demented:
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!”
Usage notes
For the plural of the noun, the spelling dos would be correct; do's is often used for the sake of legibility, but is sometimes considered incorrect.
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 LatinDominus(“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.
^ Langer, Nils (2001) Linguistic Purism in Action: How auxiliary tun was stigmatized in Early New High German, de Gruyter, →ISBN
^ John McWhorter (2009) “What else happened to English? A brief for the Celtic hypothesis”, in English language & linguistics, volume 13, number 2, Cambridge: University Press, pages 163-191
^ “The O'Connell National Statue”, in The Freeman's Journal, Dublin, 1862 October 23, page 2
Bolton, Kingsley, Hutton, Christopher (2005) A Dictionary of Cantonese Slang: The Language of Hong Kong Movies, Street Gangs and City Life, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 100
2000, Domingo Frades Gaspar, Vamus a falal: Notas pâ coñocel y platical en nosa fala, Editora regional da Extremadura, Theme I, Chapter 1: Lengua Española:
I si “a patria do homi é sua lengua”, cumu idía Albert Camus, o que está claru é que a lengua está mui por encima de fronteiras, serras, rius i maris, de situaciós pulíticas i sociu-económicas, de lazus religiosus e inclusu familiaris.
And if “a man’s homeland is his language”, as Albert Camus said, what is clear is that language is above borders, mountain ranges, rivers and seas, above political and socio-economic situations, of religious and even family ties.
References
Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web), 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN
(Munster,literary)prefixed before the preterite, imperfect and conditional forms of a verb
do mhol sé ― he praised
Etymology 2
Reanalysis of do(“past tense marker”) and the early modern unstressed preverb do- of verbs like do-gheibhim(“I get”), do-chím(“I see”) (and possibly also a- in a-tú(“I am”), a-deirim(“I say”)) in relative clauses as a relative marker.[5]
used with the possessive determiners mo, do, bhur to indicate the direct object of a verbal noun, in place of ag after a form of bí in the progressive aspect
Tá sé do mo ghortú. ― It’s hurting me.
Bhí sé do d’fhiafraí. ― He was inquiring about you sg.
Bhí sibh do bhur gcloí. ― You pl were being overthrown.
The reflexive is formed by adding féin to the relevant pronoun: e.g. "myself" = mé féin, "yourselves" = sibh féin.
References
^ Seán Ó Catháin (1933) “Some Studies in the Development from Middle to Modern Irish, Based on the Annals of Ulster”, in Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, volume 19, number 1, →DOI, The Transition ro > do, pages 14–20
^ Liam Breatnach (1994) “An Mheán-Ghaeilge”, in K. McCone, D. McManus, C. Ó Háinle, N. Williams, L. Breatnach, editors, Stair na Gaeilge: in ómós do Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (in Irish), Maynooth: Roinn na Sean-Ghaeilge, Coláiste Phádraig, →ISBN, §§11.4–5, page 280
^ Damian McManus (1994) “An Nua-Ghaeilge Chlasaiceach”, in K. McCone, D. McManus, C. Ó Háinle, N. Williams, L. Breatnach, editors, Stair na Gaeilge: in ómós do Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (in Irish), Maynooth: Roinn na Sean-Ghaeilge, Coláiste Phádraig, →ISBN, §§7.2, 7.5, 7.16, pages 394–5, 399, 408–12
And while there is a delay, with his trembling right hand he offers red wine. (Hyrieus serves his guests, unaware that they are gods. See: Hyrieus; Orion (mythology).)
Non igitur provocatio ista lege datur, sed duae maxime salutares leges quaestionesque tolluntur. Quid est aliud hortari adulescentis ut turbulenti, ut seditiosi, ut perniciosi cives velint esse?
It is not, therefore, a right of appeal that is afforded by that law, but two most salutary laws and modes of judicial investigation that are abolished. And what is this but exhorting young men to be turbulent, seditious, mischievous citizens?
Quid, quod obrogatur legibus Cæsaris, quae iubent ei qui de vi itemque ei qui maiestatis damnatus sit aqua et igni interdici? quibus cum provocatio datur, nonne acta Cæsaris rescinduntur? Quae quidem ego, patres conscripti, qui illa numquam probavi, tamen ita conservanda concordiae causa arbitratus sum ut non modo, quas vivus leges Cæsar tulisset, infirmandas hoc tempore non putarem, sed ne illas quidem quas post mortem Cæsaris prolatas esse et fixas videtis.
What more? Is not this a substitution of a new law for the laws of Cæsar, which enact that every man who has been convicted of violence, and also every man who has been convicted of treason, shall be interdicted from fire and water? And, when those men have a right of appeal granted them, are not the acts of Cæsar rescinded? And those acts, O conscript fathers, I, who never approved of them, have still thought it advisable to maintain for the sake of concord; so that I not only did not think that the laws which Cæsar had passed in his lifetime ought to be repealed, but I did not approve of meddling with those even which since the death of Cæsar you have seen produced and published.
In Vulgar Latin, dō becomes *dao, by analogy with the root vowel -a-, but also by some elided third conjugation verbs like *vao, *vare (< vadō, vadere).
This table includes an archaic present subjunctive conjugation on a du- root that appears in the works of Plautus and Terence.
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
Further reading
do in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
do in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
do in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
to set out on a journey: in viam se dare
to give a horse the reins: frenosdare equo
to require, give, take time for deliberation: tempus (spatium) deliberandi or ad deliberandum postulare, dare, sibi sumere
to give some one a few days for reflection: paucorum dierum spatium ad deliberandum dare
to own oneself conquered, surrender: manus dare
to show oneself to some one: se in conspectum dare alicui
to take care of one's health: valetudini consulere, operam dare
to give a person poison in bread: dare venenum in pane
to give funeral games in honour of a person: ludos funebres alicui dare
this is the inscription on his tomb..: sepulcro (Dat.) or in sepulcro hoc inscriptum est
a favourable opportunity presents itself: occasio datur, offertur
to give a man the opportunity of doing a thing: occasionem alicui dare, praebere alicuius rei or ad aliquid faciendum
to give a man the opportunity of doing a thing: facultatem alicui dare alicuius rei or ut possit...
to give a man the opportunity of doing a thing: potestatem,copiam alicui dare, facere with Gen. gerund.
to give ground for suspicion: locum dare suspicioni
to give occasion for blame; to challenge criticism: ansas dare ad reprehendum, reprehensionis
to bring a man to ruin; to destroy: aliquem affligere, perdere, pessumdare, in praeceps dare
to do any one a service or kindness: beneficium alicui dare, tribuere
to award the prize to..: palmam deferre, dare alicui
to entrust a matter to a person; to commission: mandatum, negotium alicui dare
to consider a thing creditable to a man: aliquid laudi alicui ducere, dare
to reproach a person with..: aliquid alicui crimini dare, vertere
to take great pains in order to..: studiose (diligenter, enixe, sedulo, maxime) dare operam, ut...
to expend great labour on a thing: egregiam operam (multum, plus etc. operae) dare alicui rei
to abandon oneself to inactivity and apathy: ignaviaeet socordiae se dare
to give a person his choice: optionem alicui dare (Acad. 2. 7. 19)
to offer a person the alternative of... or..: optionem alicui dare, utrum...an
to give a person advice: consilium dare alicui
to be forgotten, pass into oblivion: oblivioni esse, dari
to become a pupil, disciple of some one: operam dare or simply se dare alicui, se tradere in disciplinam alicuius, se conferre, se applicare ad aliquem
to give advice, directions, about a matter: praecepta dare, tradere de aliqua re
to grant, admit a thing: dare, concedere aliquid
to produce a play (of the writer): fabulam dare
to applaud, clap a person: plausum dare (alicui)
to give a gladiatorial show: munus gladiatorium edere, dare (or simply munus edere, dare)
to give a gladiatorial show: gladiatores dare
to let oneself be jovial: se dare iucunditati
to write a letter to some one: epistulam (litteras) dare, scribere, mittere ad aliquem
to charge some one with a letter for some one else: epistulam dare alicui ad aliquem
to be in correspondence with..: litteras inter se dare et accipere
Rome, January 1st: Kalendis Ianuariis Romā (dabam)
to give time for recovery: respirandi spatium dare
to pardon some one: alicui veniam dare (alicuius rei)
to guarantee the protection of the state; to promise a safe-conduct: fidem publicam dare, interponere (Sall. Iug. 32. 1)
to give one's word that..: fidem dare alicui (opp. accipere) (c. Acc. c. Inf.)
to rouse a person's suspicions: suspicionem movere, excitare, inicere, dare alicui
to deceive a person, throw dust in his eyes: verba dare alicui (Att. 15. 16)
to swear an oath to a person: iusiurandum dare alicui
to give an oracular response: oraculum dare, edere
to give an oracular response: responsum dare (vid. sect. VIII. 5, note Note to answer...), respondere
to give some one to drink: alicui bibere dare
to devote oneself to a person's society: se dare in consuetudinem alicuius
to enter into conversation with some one: se dare in sermonem cum aliquo
to give audience to some one: colloquendi copiam facere, dare
to give audience to some one: conveniendi aditumdare alicui
to give one's right hand to some one: dextram alicui porrigere, dare
to give a dowry to one's daughter: dotem filiae dare
to give one's daughter in marriage to some-one: filiam alicui in matrimonium dare
to give one's daughter in marriage to some-one: filiam alicui nuptum dare
to lend, borrow money at interest: pecuniam fenori (fenore) alicui dare, accipere ab aliquo
to lend money to some one: pecuniam alicui mutuam dare
to present a person with the freedom of the city: civitatem alicui dare, tribuere, impertire
to make laws (of a legislator): leges scribere, facere, condere, constituere (not dare)
let the consuls take measures for the protection of the state: videant or dent operam consules, ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat (Catil. 1. 2. 4)
to give a man audience before the senate: senatum alicui dare (Q. Fr. 2. 11. 2)
to produce as a witness: aliquem testem dare, edere, proferre
to reproach, blame a person for..: aliquid alicui crimini dare, vitio vertere (Verr. 5. 50)
to pardon a person: veniam dare alicui
to be (heavily) punished by some one: poenas (graves) dare alicui
to put some one in irons, chains: in vincula (custodiam) dare aliquem
to enlist oneself: nomen (nomina) dare, profiteri
to give furlough, leave of absence to soldiers: commeatum militibus dare (opp. petere)
to pay the troops: stipendiumdare, numerare, persolvere militibus
to give the watchword, countersign: tesseram dare (Liv. 28. 14)
to give the signal to engage: signum proelii dare
the cavalry covers the retreat: equitatus tutum receptum dat
to put the enemy to flight: in fugam dare, conicere hostem
to flee, run away: terga vertere or dare
to run away from the enemy: terga dare hosti
to take to flight: se dare in fugam, fugae
to dictate the terms of peace to some one: pacis condiciones dare, dicere alicui (Liv. 29. 12)
to give hostages: obsides dare
to reduce a people to their former obedience: aliquem ad officium (cf. sect. X. 7, note officium...) reducere (Nep. Dat. 2. 3)
c.800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 97d10
Is peccad díabul lesom .i. fodord doïb di dommatu, ⁊ du·fúairthed ní leu fora sáith din main, ⁊ todlugud inna féulæ ɔ amairis nánda·tibérad Día doïb, ⁊ nach coimnacuir ⁊ issi dano insin ind frescissiu co fochaid.
It is a double sin in his opinion, i.e. the murmuring by them of want, although there remained some of the manna with them upon their satiety, and demanding the meat with faithlessness that Good would not give it to them, and that he could not; therefore that is the expectation with testing.
B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “do”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN
Grozi mu do sześciu lat więzienia. ― He could get up to six years' imprisonment.
Nasz syn ma tylko pięć lat, a już umie liczyć do stu. ― Our son is only five and can already count to 100.
denotes a deadline; by(indicates an intended deadline)
Mój szef chce, żebym do jutra skończył raport. ― My boss wants me to finish the report by tomorrow.
(Przemyśl)Synonym of przez; denoting a period of time for which something lasts
Chorowała do póroku. ― She was sick for half a year.
Trivia
According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), do is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 1245 times in scientific texts, 1326 times in news, 1088 times in essays, 1260 times in fiction, and 935 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 5854 times, making it the 9th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[1]
^ Ida Kurcz (1990) “do”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 76
Further reading
do in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “do”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
“DO”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 07.03.2019
Aleksander Saloni (1908) “do”, in “Lud rzeszowski”, in Materyały Antropologiczno-Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne (in Polish), volume 10, Kraków: Akademia Umiejętności, page 333
“do”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025
Bill Palmer, The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area (→ISBN, 2017), page 531, table 95, Comparative basic vocabulary in Lakes Plain Languages
Used to express an affirmative answer to verbs in the preterite (simple past) tense.
In colloquial speech it can sometimes be heard as an answer to any question referring to the past (such as those in the perfect or pluperfect), but this is considered nonstandard.
Long C., Rebecca, Cruz M., Sofronio (2000) Diccionario zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho, Oaxaca (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 38) (in Spanish), second electronic edition, Coyoacán, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 367