do.
A syntactic marker.
Meaning & usage
A syntactic marker. A syntactic marker in a question whose main verb is not another auxiliary verb or be.
Do you go there often?
A syntactic marker. A syntactic marker in negations with the indicative and imperative moods.
I do not go there often.
Do not listen to him.
A syntactic marker. A syntactic marker for emphasis with the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods.
But I do go sometimes.
Do tell us.
A syntactic marker. 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.
Likes her cappuccino, Mary does. (UK, colloquial)
A syntactic marker. Should; ought to (especially in respect of a task to be repeated).
Do I just call every number on the list each time?
A syntactic marker. Used to form the present progressive of verbs.
To perform; to execute.
If you want something done, do it yourself.
All you ever do is surf the Internet. What will you do this afternoon?
To cause or make (someone) (do something).
To suffice.
make it do or do without
it’s not the best broom, but it will have to do; this will do me, thanks.
To be reasonable or acceptable.
It simply will not do to have dozens of children running around such a quiet event.
To have (as an effect).
The fresh air did him some good.
To fare, perform (well or poorly).
Our relationship isn't doing very well; how do you do?
To fare, perform (well or poorly). To fare well; to thrive; to prosper; (of livestock) to fatten.
To have as one's job.
What does Bob do? — He's a plumber.
To perform the tasks or actions associated with (something).
Don't forget to do your report!
To cook.
I'll just do some eggs.
To travel in or through, to tour, to make a circuit of.
Let’s do New York also.
To treat in a certain way.
To work for or on, by way of caring for, looking after, preparing, cleaning, keeping in order, etc.
To act or behave in a certain manner; to conduct oneself.
To spend (time) in jail. (See also do time)
I did five years for armed robbery.
To impersonate or depict.
They really laughed when he did Clinton, with a perfect accent and a leer.
To copy or emulate the actions or behaviour that is associated with the person or thing mentioned.
He did a Henry VIII and got married six times.
He was planning to do a 9/11.
To kill.
To deal with for good and all; to finish up; to undo; to ruin; to do for.
To punish for a misdemeanor.
He got done for speeding.
Teacher'll do you for that!
To have sex with. (See also do it)
To have sex with. (See also do it) To masturbate.
I got horny from his nudes and ended up doing myself to them.
To cheat or swindle.
That guy just did me out of two hundred bucks!
To convert into a certain form; especially, to translate.
the novel has just been done into English; I'm going to do this play into a movie
To finish.
To cash or to advance money for, as a bill or note.
To make or provide.
Could you do me a burger with mayonnaise instead of ketchup?
To provide as a service.
Do they do haircuts there?
To injure (one's own body part).
To take (a drug).
I do cocaine.
To exist with a purpose or for a reason.
What's that car doing in our swimming pool?
To drive a vehicle at a certain speed, especially in regard to a speed limit.
He was doing 50 [miles per hour] in a school zone.
To perform something suggested by a following noun, verb, or adjective.
did a listen do someone a frighten doing her a cute
Where this word comes from
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, also Northern English dow. 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”).
A party, celebration, social function; usually of moderate size and formality.
We’re having a bit of a do on Saturday to celebrate my birthday.
Clipping of hairdo.
Nice do!
I don't like to spend time on my hairstyle, so I usually just wear a do-rag.
Something that can or should be done.
Don’t forget the dos and don’ts.
Something that has been done.
"How come you quit?" "I'm moving to London." "Fair dos."
Ado; bustle; stir; to-do; A period of confusion or argument.
A cheat; a swindler.
An act of swindling; a fraud or deception.
A homicide.
Where this word comes from
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, also Northern English dow. 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”).
A syllable used in solfège to represent the first and eighth tonic of a major scale.
Where this word comes from
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 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.
The cardinal number occurring after el and before do one in a duodecimal system. Written 10, decimal value 12.
Where this word comes from
Shortening of dozen.
Abbreviation of ditto.
Where this word comes from
Short for ditto.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.