duty
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
Etymology: From Middle English duete, from Middle English dewe + Middle English -te. Equivalent to due + -ty.
Inflected forms:
form: duties
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: dutie
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: That which one is morally or legally obligated to do.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Do your duty by me! -No, we don't have a duty to keep you abreast.
1805, 21 October, Horatio Nelson
England expects that every man will do his duty.
Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
Your Excellency, I trust you will not find it necessary to use that word again. Were I not completely aware of my duty to my family and to my country, I would not have come back tonight…or indeed ever again!
Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.
British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.
gloss: The state of being at work and responsible for or doing a particular task.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: I’m on duty from 6 pm to 6 am.
gloss: An excise tax; especially, one on imports or exports.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: customs duty
gloss: One's due, something one is owed; a debt or fee.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: Take that which is thy duty, and goo thy waye.
gloss: Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: my duty to you
It [the letter] was written with a plain, unaffected, homely piety that I knew to be genuine, and ended with ‘my duty to my ever darling’—meaning myself.
gloss: The efficiency of an engine in work done per unit of fuel; particularly, the number of pounds of water which a steam pumping engine can raise one foot by burning one bushel or hundredweight of coal.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The act of urination or defecation, especially for a dog.
pos: noun
tags: countable
euphemistic
uncountable
examples: The basic idea in housebreaking is not to wait until the puppy sins and then punish him; it is to call nature to your aid and thus make it easy for him to do his duty.
Antonyms: duty-free
right
Related words: due
Derived words: active duty
call of duty
chimney-duty
civic duty
countervailing duty
customs duty
death duty
Delivered Duty Paid
Delivered Duty Unpaid
do one's duty
double duty
duteous
dutiable
dutied
dutiful
dutiless
duty ace
duty-bound
duty bound
dutybound
duty calls
duty card
duty cycle
duty-free
dutyless
dutyman
duty-man
duty man
duty manager
duty of care
duty officer
duty of support
duty roster
duty solicitor
duty to retreat
estate duty
excise duty
export duty
extra-duty
fatigue duty
feu duty
feu-duty
fiduciary duty
filial duty
fuel duty
heavy-duty
home duty
import duty
in the line of duty
jury duty
legal duty
light-duty
line of duty
moral duty
neglect duty
nonduty
off-duty
off duty
on-duty
on duty
point duty
regular-duty
report for duty
Revlon duty
scab duty
sea duty
sea-duty
shore duty
stamp duty
static separation of duty
succession duty
superduty
tonnage duty
tour of duty
turn of duty
yard duty
Translations: