do

See also Appendix:Variations of "do"

English

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Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Middle English don (“to do”), from Old English dōn (“to do”), from Proto-Germanic *dōną (“to do”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do, make”). Cognate with Scots dae (“to to”), West Frisian dwaan (“to do”), Dutch doen (“to do”), Low German doon (“to do”), German tun (“to do”), Latin facio (“I do, make”), Ancient Greek τίθημι (tithēmi), Lithuanian dėti (“to put”), Polish dziać (“to happen”), Albanian ndodh (“to happen, occur, to be located”), Russian делать (“to do”), Sanskrit दधाति (dádhāti), Russian деть (“to put, to place”).

Pronunciation

Verb

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

  1. (auxiliary) A syntactic marker in questions.
    Do you go there often?
  2. (auxiliary) A syntactic marker in negations.
    I do not go there often.
  3. (auxiliary) A syntactic marker for emphasis.
    But I do go sometimes.
  4. (auxiliary) A syntactic marker to avoid repetition of an earlier verb.
    I play tennis; he does too.
  5. (transitive) To perform; to execute.
    All you ever do is surf the Internet.
    What will you do this afternoon?
  6. (obsolete) To cause, make (someone) (do something).
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:
      Sometimes to doe him laugh, she would assay / To laugh at shaking of the leaues light, / Or to behold the water worke [...].
  7. (intransitive, transitive) To suffice.
    It’s not the best broom, but it will have to do.
    This will do me, thanks.
    • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
      "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.
  8. (intransitive) To be reasonable or acceptable.
    It simply will not do to have dozens of children running around such a quiet event.
  9. (transitive) To have (as an effect).
    The fresh air did him some good.
  10. (transitive) To fare; to succeed or fail.
    Our relationship isn't doing very well.
    How do you do?
  11. (transitive, chiefly in questions) To have as one's job.
    What does Bob do? — He's a plumber.
  12. To cook.
    I'll just do some eggs.
    • 1889, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men In a Boat:
      It seemed, from his account, that he was very good at doing scrambled eggs.
    • 1944, “News from the Suburbs”:
      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.
    • 2005, Alan Tansley, The Grease Monkey, page 99:
      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.
  13. (transitive) To travel in, to tour, to make a circuit of.
    Let’s do New York also.
    • 1869, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, edition 1957 ed.:
      We 'did' London to our heart's 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[1], page 97:
      After doing Paris and its suburbs, I started for London […]
    • 1968 July 22, Ralph Schoenstein, “Nice Place to Visit”, 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 […]
  14. To treat in a certain way.
    • 1894[2], page 59:
      They did me well, I assure you — uncommon well: Bellinger of '84; green chartreuse fit for a prince; […]
    • 1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers", in Lord Peter Views the Body,
      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.
    • 1994, Jervey Tervalon, Understand This[3], ISBN 068804560X, page 50:
      "Why you gonna do me like that?" I ask. "Do what?" "Dog me."
  15. (transitive) To spend (time) in jail.
    I did five years for armed robbery.
  16. (transitive) To impersonate or depict.
    They really laughed when he did Clinton, with a perfect accent and a leer.
  17. (transitive, slang) To kill.
    • 2004, Patrick Stevens, Politics Is the Greatest Game: A Johannesburg Liberal Lampoon[4], ISBN 1857565665, page 314:
      He's gonna do me, Jarvis. I kid you not, this time he's gonna do me proper.
    • 2007, E.J. Churchill, The Lazarus Code, page 153:
      The order came and I did him right there. The bullet went right where it was supposed to go.
  18. (transitive, slang) To have sex with. (See also do it)
    • 1996, James Russell Kincaid, My Secret Life, page 81:
      […] one day I did her on the kitchen table, and several times on the dining-room table.
    • 2008, On the Line, Donna Hill[5], page 84:
      The uninhibited woman within wanted to do him right there on the countertop, but I remained composed.
  19. (transitive) To cheat or swindle.
    That guy just did me out of two hundred bucks!
  20. (transitive) To convert into a certain form; especially, to translate.
    The novel has just been done into English.
    I'm going to do do this play into a movie.
  21. (transitive, intransitive) To finish.
    Aren't you done yet?
  22. (UK, dated, intransitive) To work as a domestic servant (with for).
    • 1915, Frank Thomas Bullen, Recollections
      I've left my key in my office in Manchester, my family are at Bournemouth, and the old woman who does for me goes home at nine o'clock.
  23. (archaic, dialectal, transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the present progressive of verbs.
    • 1844, William Barnes, Evenén in the Village, Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:
      ...An' the dogs do bark, an' the rooks be a-vled to the elems high and dark, an' the water do roar at mill.
Usage notes
  • In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use and verbs had a distinct second-person singular present-tense form, the verb do had two such forms: dost, in helping-verb uses, and doest, in other uses. (Naturally, these are both now archaic, though doest is less common than dost even as an archaism.) Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present-tense forms, the form doth was used as a helping verb, and the form doeth elsewhere; these have both been supplanted by the current form does, except in archaisms, where doth is more common than doeth.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from do
Translations
perform, execute
slang: attack
slang: have sex with
work, suffice
be reasonable or acceptable
in questions
in negations
for emphasis
to avoid repetition
cook
visit
be exhausted, finished, ready
take care of, be well
be in jail
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
See also

Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

Etymology 2

From the above verb.

Noun

do (plural dos)

  1. (colloquial) A party, celebration, social function.
    We’re having a bit of a do on Saturday to celebrate my birthday.
  2. (informal) A hairdo.
    Nice do!
  3. (colloquial, obsolete) A period of confusion or argument.
  4. Something that can or should be done (usually in the phrase dos and don'ts).
  5. (obsolete) A deed; an act.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)
  6. (archaic) ado; bustle; stir; to-do
    • Selden
      A great deal of do, and a great deal of trouble.
  7. (obsolete, UK, slang) A cheat; a swindler.
Synonyms
Translations
function, celebration, party
period of confusion or argument
hairdo
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. For the party, the term is generally used only by older adults and usually implies a social function of modest size and formality.

Etymology 3

From Italian do.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

do (plural dos)

  1. (music) A syllable used in solfège to represent the first and eighth tonic of a major scale.
Synonyms
  • ut (archaic)
Translations
tonic of a major scale

See also

names for musical notes

Etymology 3

Short for ditto.

Abbreviation

do

  1. (rare) ditto

Statistics

Anagrams

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Albanian

Verb

do

  1. To want.
  2. To like.
  3. To love.
    Të dua.
    I love you.
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Catalan

Etymology 1

From Latin donum (“gift”)

Noun

do m (plural dons)

  1. gift
  2. talent

Etymology 2

From Italian do

Noun

do m (plural dos)

  1. (music) do (first note of diatonic scale)
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Czech

Pronunciation

Preposition

do + genitive

  1. into, in (to the inside of)
    Vešel do místnosti. —He walked into the room.
    Dostala se jí voda do bot.—Water got in her boots.
  2. to, in (in the direction of, and arriving at; indicating destination)
    Jdeme do obchodu. — We are walking to the shop.
    Přiletěli jsme do New Yorku. — We arrived in New York.
  3. until (up to the time of)
    Zůstal tam až do neděle.—He stayed there until Sunday.
  4. by (at some time before the given time)
    Ať jsi zpátky do desíti! — Be back by ten o'clock!
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Dutch

Etymology

From Italian do (“the note”).

Pronunciation

Noun

do m, f (plural do's)

  1. do, the musical note
  2. (Belgium) C, the musical note

Synonyms

  • ut (archaic)

See also

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Esperanto

Noun

do (plural do-oj, accusative singular do-on, accusative plural do-ojn)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter D/d.

See also

Etymology

Adverb

do

  1. therefore, then, indeed, however
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Fala

Etymology

From Old Portuguese do, from de + o.

Preposition

do m (plural dos, feminine da, feminine plural das)

  1. contraction of de (“of”) + o (“the”)
    • 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 [i.e. “homeland of the man”] 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.
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French

Pronunciation

Noun

do m (invariable)

  1. (music) do, the note 'C'.

Synonyms

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Galician

Etymology

From contraction of preposition de (“of, from”) + masculine definite article o (“the”)

Contraction

do m (feminine da, masculine plural dos, feminine plural das)

  1. of the; from the; 's
    cabalo do demo
    "demon's horse" ("dragonfly")
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Ido

Adverb

do

  1. so, therefore
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Irish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [d̪ˠɔ], [d̪ˠə]

Particle

do (Triggers lenition of a following consonant.)

  1. (Munster), (literary) Marker of the past tense.
    do mhol sé
    he praised
Usage notes

The variant form, d', is required before verbs beginning with a vowel sound:

  1. d'ól sé
    he drank
  1. d'fhreastail sé
    he served
Related terms
  • d' (used before a vowel sound, required)

Etymology 2

From Old Irish do < Proto-Celtic *tu (“to”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [d̪ˠɔ], [d̪ˠə]
    • (Connemara and the Aran Islands) IPA: [ɡə]

Preposition

do (Triggers lenition of a following consonant.)

  1. to, for
    do chara
    to a friend, for a friend
Inflection
Person Normal Emphatic
1st person sing. dom domsa
2d person sing. duit duitse
3d sing. masc. dó dósan
3d sing. fem. di dise
1st person pl. dúinn dúinne
2d person pl. daoibh daoibhse
3d person pl. dóibh dóibhsean
Usage notes

Used only before consonant sounds.

Derived terms
  • dá (contraction of do with the possessive determiner a)
  • dár (contraction of do with the possessive determiner ár)
  • don (contraction of do with the singular definite article an)
Related terms
  • d' (used before a vowel sound)

Etymology 3

From Old Irish do < Proto-Celtic *tu (“your, thy”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [d̪ˠə]

Determiner

do (possessive) (Triggers lenition of a following consonant.)

  1. your (singular)
    Cá bhfuil do charr?
    Where is your car?
Usage notes

Used only before consonant sounds.

Related terms
  • d' (used before a vowel sound)
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Italian

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Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

do

  1. first-person singular indicative present tense of dare

Noun

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia it

do m

  1. do, the musical note
  2. C (the musical note or key)

Anagrams

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Japanese

Romanization

do

  1. See ど
  2. See ド
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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”). Cognates include Ancient Greek δίδωμι (didōmi), Sanskrit ददाति (dádāti), Old Persian 𐎭𐎭𐎠𐎬𐎺 (dā-).

Pronunciation

Verb

present active dō, present infinitive dare, perfect active dedī, supine datum.

  1. I give.
    Tertium non datur.[6]
    A third [possibility] is not given: P \or \neg P .
  2. I offer, render.
    • Captivi ("the captives") by Plautus (English and Latin text)
      Do tibi operam, Aristophontes, si quid est quod me velis.
      I’m at your service, Aristophontes, if there’s anything you want of me.
  3. I yield, surrender, concede.

Conjugation

The conjugation of this verb is identical to the First Conjugation, except that '-dā-' becomes '-da-'. Forms exceptional to this rule are the 2sg. indicative and imperative forms, which are dās and dā respectively. The formation of the perfect stem ded- is also irregular, but its conjugation is regular.

First Conjugation dō-variation
indicative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present dō dās dat damus datis dant
future dabō dabis dabit dabimus dabitis dabunt
imperfect dabam dabās dabat dabāmus dabātis dabant
perfect dedī dedistī dedit dedimus dedistis dedērunt
future perfect dederō dederis dederit dederimus dederitis dederint
pluperfect dederam dederās dederat dederāmus dederātis dederant
passive present dor daris datur damur daminī dantur
future dabor daberis dabitur dabimur dabiminī dabuntur
imperfect dabar dabāris dabātur dabāmur dabāminī dabantur
perfect Use datus m, data f, datum n followed by the present indicative of sum.
future perfect Use datus m, data f, datum n followed by the future indicative of sum.
pluperfect Use datus m, data f, datum n followed by the imperfect indicative of sum.
subjunctive singular plural
first second third first second third
active present dem dēs det dēmus dētis dent
imperfect darem darēs daret darēmus darētis darent
perfect dederim dederīs dederit dederīmus dederītis dederint
pluperfect dedissem dedissēs dedisset dedissēmus dedissētis dedissent
passive present der dēris dētur dēmur dēminī dentur
imperfect darer darēris darētur darēmur darēminī darentur
perfect Use datus m, data f, datum n followed by the present subjunctive of sum.
pluperfect Use datus m, data f, datum n followed by the imperfect subjunctive of sum.
imperatives active passive
present (you) future (you) future (he/she) present (you) future (you) future (he/she)
singular dā datō datō dare dator dator
plural date datōte dantō daminī — dantor
present perfect future present perfect future
infinitives dare dedisse datūrus esse darī datus esse datum īrī
participles dans (dantis) — datūrus -ra, -rum — datus -a, -um dandus -nda, -ndum

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

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Lojban

Cmavo

do (rafsi doi, don) (pro-sumti)

  1. (sumti) you
  2. (sumti modifier) your

See also

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Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

Adverb

do

  1. there
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Norwegian

Etymology 1

Possibly an abbreviation of "do-hūs" ("do house") from Middle Low German dōn.

Noun

do

  1. toilet
Inflection
    Inflection of do
indefinite singular definite singular indefinite plural definite plural
Bokmål m do doen doer doene
Bokmål n do doet do/doer doa/doene
Nynorsk m do doen doar doane
Nynorsk n do doet do doa [doi]
Compounds
  • dodraug
  • dolukt
  • dopapir
  • dorull
  • dosete
  • klappedo
  • utedo
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Noun

do m

  1. do (the musical note)
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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse þó.

Adverb

do

  1. anyhow, still, nevertheless

References

  • “do” in The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.
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Pennsylvania German

Adverb

do

  1. here
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Polish

Pronunciation

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *do, from Proto-Indo-European *do-, *de-.

Preposition

do followed by the genitive

  1. to, towards, into
  2. until
  3. (deadline) by
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Portuguese

Alternative forms

  • d’o (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old Portuguese do, from de (“of”) + o (“the”).

Pronunciation

Contraction

do (plural dos, feminine da, feminine plural das)

  1. Contraction of de o (“of the”).
    • 2005, Lya Wyler (translator), J. K. Rowling (English author), Harry Potter e o Enigma do Príncipe (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Rocco, page 184:
      Eu estava na esperança de encontrá-lo antes do jantar!
      I was hoping to meet you before dinner!
  2. Contraction of de o (“from the”).
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Saterland Frisian

Article

do pl

  1. the
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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

From Old Irish do < Proto-Celtic *tu (“your, thy”).

Pronoun

do

  1. your (informal singular)
    Bha iongantach do ghràdh dhomh. - Wonderful was thy love for me.
Usage notes
  • Lenites the following word.
  • Before a word beginning with a vowel or fh followed by a vowel it takes the form d'.
    Bidh cuimhn’ agam ort, air d’ anam ghrinn. - I will remember thee, thy dear soul.

Etymology 2

From Old Irish do < Proto-Celtic *tu (“to”).

Preposition

do

  1. to
    Bha e a' siubhal do Shasainn au-uiridh.
    He travelled to England last year.
  2. for
    Do dh'ar beatha, dhut, dhèanainn e.
    For our life, for thee, I would do it.
Usage notes
  • Lenites the following word.
  • Before a word beginning with a vowel or fh followed by a vowel it takes the form do dh'.
    Tha sinn a' dol do dh'Ile.
    We are going to Islay.
  • If the definite article in the singular follows, it combines with do into don:
    Fàilte don dùthaich.
    Welcome to the country.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Combining

pronoun

 Prepositional

pronoun

 Prepositional

pronoun (emphatic)
mi dhomh dhomhsa
tu dhut dhutsa
e dha dhasan
i dhi dhise
sinn dhuinn dhuinne
sibh dhuibh dhuibhse
iad dhaibh dhaibhsan
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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *do, from Proto-Indo-European *de-, *do-.

Pronunciation

Adverb

dȍ (Cyrillic spelling до̏)

  1. only, except
    ni(t)ko do ja — nobody but me, only me
    ne jede ništa do komad hljeba — he eats nothing except a piece of bread
  2. around, approximately
    do dva metra — around two meters
    oko 5 kila — around five kilograms
  3. due to, because of
    to je do hrane — that's due to the food

Preposition

dȍ (Cyrillic spelling до̏)

  1. (with genitive) up to, to, as far as, by
    od Zagreba do Beograda — from Zagreb to Belgrade
    od jutra do mraka — from morning to night
    od 5 do 10 sati — from 5 to 10 o'clock
    od vrha do dna — from top to bottom
    do r(ij)eke — as far as the river
    sad je pet do sedam — now it's five minutes to seven
    do poned(j)eljka — by Monday
    do sada — so far, thus far, till now
    do nedavna — until recently
    do dana današnjega — to this very day
    sve do — as far as up to, all the way to
    do kuda — how far
    do tuda — thus far, up to here
  2. before (= prȉje/prȅ)
    do rata — before the war
  3. beside, next (to)
    s(j)edi do mene — sit next to me
    jedan do drugoga — side by side
  4. in miscellaneous constructs
    nije mi do toga — I don't feel like doing that
    nije mi do sm(ij)eha — I don't feel like laughing
    njemu je samo do seksa — he is only interested in sex
    nije mi puno stalo do toga — I'm not very much interested in that
    nije do mene — it's not up to me, it's no me to lame

Etymology 2

From Proto-Slavic *dolъ.

Alternative forms

Noun

dȏ m (Cyrillic spelling до̑)

  1. dale, small valley
Declension
    declension of do
singular plural
nominative dȏ dòlovi
genitive dȍla dolova
dative dolu dolovima
accusative do dolove
vocative dole dolovi
locative dolu dolovima
instrumental dolom dolovima
Derived terms
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Slovak

Preposition

do

  1. into, in, to, until
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Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *do.

Pronunciation

Preposition

do

  1. (with genitive) by (some time before the given time)
  2. (with genitive) till
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Spanish

Etymology

Old Spanish do, short for donde

Adverb

do

  1. where

Noun

do m (plural dos)

  1. do (musical note)

See also

Pronoun

do

  1. where

Derived terms

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Turkish

Noun

do

  1. C, the musical note
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Venetian

Verb

do

  1. first-person singular present indicative of dar - I give
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Volapük

Conjunction

do

  1. though, although, even though
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Welsh

Adverb

do

  1. did (as opposed to naddo, didn’t).
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West Frisian

Etymology 1

From Old Frisian thū, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronoun

do personal pronoun

  1. you (informal second-person singular subject)

Etymology 2

From Old Frisian *dūve, from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ.

Noun

do

  1. pigeon, dove
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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 18:19