do

do¹ perform, act

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English don,^[4][1] inherited from Old English dōn (“to make, act, perform, cause; to put, place”),^[5][2][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *dōną,^[3][8] a verb found only in West Germanic.^[7][9] The form do was originally the first-person singular present of the Middle English verb.^[5][2] It is cognate with Old Frisian duā, Old Saxon dōan, Dutch doen, Old High German tuon and German tun;^{[2][5][10][7]} the Scandinavian languages use instead a verb related to gear, such as Danish gøre.^[9] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dhē- (“to set, put, place”),^[5][2][9][7] whose descendants elsewhere mostly keep that sense, as Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi, “I place”) and Lithuanian dėti (“to put”) do; Latin faciō (“to make, do”), the source of fact, shows the same shift to "make, do" as the Germanic verb.^[2][9][7][8] deed and doom come from the same root.^[9][7] The past tense, dyde in Old English, is a reduplicated form, the only visible trace of reduplication in the modern Germanic past tense.^[2][7] The noun, a party, a fuss or an instruction, is formed from the verb.^[11][5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put or place; and to make, act, perform or cause: Old English dōn, recorded about 725 in Beowulf;^[2][5] the OED's first quotation for "put, place" is from King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The old sense "put, place" survives only in a few phrases such as do away with and do to death,^[5][10][9] and in don and doff, contracted from do on and do off.^[9][7] "Make" is now the central meaning.^[9] Hoad dates the intransitive senses: "act in a particular way" from Old English, "fare, get on" from the 13th century, "make an end" (in perfect tenses) from the 14th, "be well or ill" from the 15th, and "serve the purpose, suffice" from the 16th.^[7] Use as an auxiliary verb began in Middle English,^[5] and in negative sentences (she did not know) it replaced the Old English negative particles.^[5] To have to do with is from the late 13th century and do or die from the 1620s.^[5] Slang senses followed: "cheat, swindle" in the 1640s, "visit as a tourist" in 1817, "kill" (do in) by 1905 and "have sex with" by 1913.^[5] The noun first meant "the action of doing" (1580) and "commotion, fuss" (1598), compare ado and to-do;^[11][5] a party or social event is recorded from before 1824, at first in regional and nonstandard English,^[11][10] dos and don'ts from 1885,^[11] and do for a hairstyle, short for hairdo, from 1918.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 725 – dōn, to put, place; to make, perform, in Beowulf.^[2]
• before 1121 – the form dou, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[2]
• 13th century – intransitive, to fare, get on.^[7]
• late 13th century – to have to do with.^[5]
• 16th century – to serve the purpose, suffice.^[7]
• 1580 – noun, the action of doing; business.^[11]
• 1598 – noun, commotion, a fuss.^[11][5]
• 1640s – slang, to cheat, swindle.^[5]
• 1817 – to visit as a tourist.^[5]
• before 1824 – noun, a party or social event.^[11]
• 1885 – dos and don'ts.^[11] Etymonline dates the phrase to 1899.^[5]
• 1905 – do in, to kill.^[5]
• 1918 – noun, a hairdo.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carry out or perform an action or task: She did the crossword in ten minutes.^[12][5]
2. To deal with, arrange or prepare something: He did the dishes after dinner.^[12]
3. To be enough or suitable; to serve: A sandwich will do for lunch.^[12][7]
4. To get on or fare: He is doing well at school.^[7]
5. Used as an auxiliary verb in questions and negatives, for emphasis, and in place of another verb: Do you know her? I do.^[5][7]
6. (informal) To visit as a tourist: They did Rome in two days.^[5]
7. (slang) To cheat or swindle; with in, to kill; to have sex with.^[5]
8. (obsolete except in dialect) To put or place.^[11][10][7]

Noun

1. (informal) A party or social event: a leaving do at the pub.^[10][11]
2. dos and don'ts: rules on what should and should not be done.^[11][10][5]
3. (informal) A hairdo.^[11][10]
4. (rare) A commotion or fuss.^[11][10]
5. (obsolete slang, 1821–1910) A swindle.^[11][10]

Word family

• doer
• doable
• undo
• overdo
• outdo
• redo
• hairdo
• to-do
• ado

do² musical note

Etymology

The musical note is borrowed from Italian do.^{[11][5][1][2][4]} The Italian syllable, recorded from about 1580 or earlier, seems to be an arbitrary formation that replaced ut, the first syllable of the scale, because it was easier to sing;^[11][1][5] Etymonline adds that the change was made for sonority, first in Italy and Germany,^[5] and the OED records German do from 1626.^[11] Hoad explains that the older syllables were taken from a hymn for the day of Saint John the Baptist, “Ut queant laxis”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first note of the major scale in solmization: the OED's first record is from 1730, in A Short Treatise on Harmony;^[11] Barnhart dates the word to 1754, possibly about 1670,^[2] and Etymonline and Merriam-Webster to about 1754.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

English also spells it doh,^[11][10][12] the spelling first used in the tonic sol-fa system.^[11] In the movable-doh system the syllable names the keynote of any major scale (or the third note of a minor scale); in the fixed-doh system it names the note C.^[11][10] The American slang do-re-mi, money, from the 1920s, is probably a pun on dough in its sense of cash.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1580 – the Italian syllable, replacing ut.^[11]
• 1730 – in English, as doh, the keynote in solmization.^[11]
• 1754 – the spelling do.^[2][5][4]
• 1920s – US slang do-re-mi, money.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. In solmization, the first note or keynote of a major scale; in the fixed system, the note C. Also spelled doh.^[10][11][12]