do : Idioms & Phrases

Index

can-do

  • adjective satellite marked by a willingness to tackle a job and get it done
    • a can-do kind of person
    • the city's indomitable optimism and can-do spirit
WordNet

derring-do

  • noun brave and heroic feats
WordNet

do a job on

  • verb destroy completely or make ugly or useless
    • The dog did a job on my pillow
    • The seamstress did a job on my wedding gown
WordNet

do away with

  • verb terminate, end, or take out
    extinguish; eliminate; get rid of.
    • Let's eliminate the course on Akkadian hieroglyphics
    • Socialism extinguished these archaic customs
    • eliminate my debts
WordNet

do by

  • verb interact in a certain way
    handle; treat.
    • Do right by her
    • Treat him with caution, please
    • Handle the press reporters gently
WordNet

do drugs

  • verb use recreational drugs
    drug.
WordNet

do good

  • verb be beneficial for
    benefit.
    • This will do you good
WordNet

do in

  • verb get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
    knock off; neutralize; liquidate; waste; neutralise.
    • The mafia liquidated the informer
    • the double agent was neutralized
WordNet

do it

  • verb have sexual intercourse with
    love; fuck; sleep with; have it away; screw; have intercourse; get it on; lie with; hump; make love; make out; get laid; have a go at it; bonk; eff; have sex; jazz; be intimate; know; have it off; bang; bed; roll in the hay; sleep together.
    • This student sleeps with everyone in her dorm
    • Adam knew Eve
    • Were you ever intimate with this man?
WordNet

do justice

  • verb bring out fully or to advantage
    • This photograph does not do her justice
  • verb show due and full appreciation
    • The diners did the food and wine justice
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do one's best

  • verb perform a task as well as possible
    go all out; give one's best; give full measure.
    • The cast gives full measure every night
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do the dishes

  • verb wash dishes
    wash up.
    • I cook and my husband washes up after dinner
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do the honors

  • verb act as the host and receive or introduce one's guests
WordNet

do up

  • verb wrap for decorative purposes
    • The gift was done up in pretty red paper
  • verb use special care in dressing, making-up, etc.
    pretty up; doll up; glam up.
    • She dolled herself up for the night out with her friends
WordNet

do well

  • verb act in one's own or everybody's best interest
    had best.
    • You will do well to arrive on time tomorrow!
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do well by

  • verb treat with respect and consideration
    • children should do well by their parents
WordNet

do work

  • verb be employed
    work.
    • Is your husband working again?
    • My wife never worked
    • Do you want to work after the age of 60?
    • She never did any work because she inherited a lot of money
    • She works as a waitress to put herself through college
WordNet

do-all

Do"-all` noun
Definitions
  1. General manager; factotum.
    Under him, Dunstan was the do-all at court, being the king's treasurer, councilor, chancellor, confessor, all things. Fuller.
Webster 1913

do-gooder

  • noun someone devoted to the promotion of human welfare and to social reforms
    improver; humanitarian.
WordNet

do-it-yourself

  • adjective satellite done by yourself
    • their house was a do-it-yourself project
    • he opened a do-it-yourself store
WordNet

do-little

Do"-lit`tle noun
Definitions
  1. One who performs little though professing much. Colloq.
    Great talkers are commonly dolittles. Bp. Richardson.
Webster 1913

do-naught

Do"-naught` noun
Etymology
Do + naught.
Definitions
  1. A lazy, good-for-nothing fellow.
Webster 1913

do-nothing

  • noun person who does no work
    layabout; loafer; bum; idler.
    • a lazy bum
  • adjective satellite characterized by inability or unwillingness to work toward a goal or assume responsibility
    • a do-nothing government
WordNet
Do"-noth`ing adjective
Definitions
  1. Doing nothing; inactive; idle; lazy; as, a do-nothing policy.
Webster 1913

do-nothingism

Do"-noth`ing*ism, Do"-noth`ing*ness noun (Also<
  • Do-nothingism
  • Do-nothingness
)
Definitions
  1. Inactivity; habitual sloth; idleness. Jocular Carlyle. Miss Austen.
Webster 1913

do-or-die

  • adjective satellite desperately determined
    desperate.
    • do-or-die revolutionaries
    • a do-or-die conflict
WordNet

do-si-do

  • noun a square-dance figure; two dancers approach each other and circle back to back before returning to their original places
WordNet

dog do

  • noun fecal droppings from a dog
    dog do; dog shit; dog turd.
WordNet

doggy do

  • noun fecal droppings from a dog
    dog do; dog shit; dog turd.
WordNet

doing business as

  • noun (law) a name under which a corporation conducts business that is not the legal name of the corporation as shown in its articles of incorporation
    assumed name; fictitious name; DBA.
WordNet

done for

  • adjective satellite destroyed or killed
    gone; kaput.
    • we are gone geese
  • adjective satellite doomed to extinction
    sunk; undone; washed-up; ruined.
WordNet

done with

  • adjective satellite having no further concern with
    through with.
    • he was through with school and he was through with family"- John Dos Passos
    • done with gambling
    • done with drinking
WordNet

dos passos

  • noun United States novelist remembered for his portrayal of life in the United States (1896-1970)
    John Dos Passos; Dos Passos.
WordNet

how-d'ye-do

  • noun an awkward situation
    how-d'ye-do.
    • that's a fine how-d'ye-do
WordNet

how-do-you-do

  • noun an awkward situation
    how-d'ye-do.
    • that's a fine how-d'ye-do
  • noun an expression of greeting
    howdy; hi; hello; hullo.
    • every morning they exchanged polite hellos
WordNet

john dos passos

  • noun United States novelist remembered for his portrayal of life in the United States (1896-1970)
    John Dos Passos; Dos Passos.
WordNet

john roderigo dos passos

  • noun United States novelist remembered for his portrayal of life in the United States (1896-1970)
    John Dos Passos; Dos Passos.
WordNet

make do

  • verb come to terms with
    contend; deal; cope; manage; get by; grapple; make out.
    • We got by on just a gallon of gas
    • They made do on half a loaf of bread every day
WordNet

make-do

  • noun something contrived to meet an urgent need or emergency
    stopgap; makeshift.
WordNet

ms-dos

  • noun an operating system developed by Bill Gates for personal computers
    Microsoft disk operating system.
WordNet

ne'er-do-well

  • noun an idle worthless person
    no-account; goldbrick; good-for-naught; good-for-nothing; goof-off.
WordNet

sao bernardo do campo

  • noun a city in southeastern Brazil; an industrial suburb of Sao Paulo
WordNet

sao jose dos campos

  • noun a city in southeastern Brazil to the northeast of Sao Paulo
WordNet

tae kwon do

  • noun a Korean martial art similar to karate
    taekwondo.
WordNet

To be pleased to do a thing

  • to take pleasure in doing it; to have the will to do it; to think proper to do it.
Webster 1913

To come it over, To do over, To give over, etc.

  • See under Come, Do, Give, etc.
Webster 1913

To do a thing on the cross

  • to act dishonestly; opposed to acting on the square. Slang
Webster 1913

To do by

  • to treat, to behave toward.
Webster 1913

To do danger

  • to cause danger. Obs.
Webster 1913

To do for

  • . (a) To answer for; to serve as; to suit. (b) To put an end to; to ruin; to baffle completely; as, a goblet is done for when it is broken. Colloq.
    Some folks are happy and easy in mind when their victim is stabbed and done for. Thackeray.
Webster 1913

To do grace

  • to reflect credit upon.
    Content to do the profession some grace. Shak.
Webster 1913

To do one honor

  • to confer distinction upon one.
Webster 1913

To do one shame

  • to cause one shame. Obs.
Webster 1913

To do one's best, To do one's diligence

  • (and the like), to exert one's self; to put forth one's best or most or most diligent efforts. "We will . . . do our best to gain their assent." Jowett (Thucyd.).
Webster 1913

To do one's business

  • to ruin one. Colloq. Wycherley.
  • to ruin one. Colloq. Wycherley.
Webster 1913

To do one's diligence, give diligence, use diligence

  • to exert one's self; to make interested and earnest endeavor.
Webster 1913

To do one's endeavor

  • to do one's duty; to put forth strenuous efforts to attain an object; a phrase derived from the Middle English phrase "to do one's dever" (duty). "Mr. Prynne proceeded to show he had done endeavor to prepare his answer."
Webster 1913

To do over

  • . (a) To make over; to perform a second time. (b) To cover; to spread; to smear. "Boats . . . sewed together and done over with a kind of slimy stuff like rosin." De Foe.
Webster 1913

To do reverence

  • to show reverence or honor; to perform an act of reverence.
    Now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence. Shak.
Webster 1913

To do the handsome thing

  • to act liberally. Colloq.
Webster 1913

To do the honors

  • to bestow honor, as on a guest; to act as host or hostess at an entertainment. "To do the honors and to give the word." Pope.
Webster 1913

To do to death

  • to put to death. (See 7.) Obs.
Webster 1913

To do truth

  • to practice what God commands.
Webster 1913

To do up

  • . (a) To put up; to raise. Obs. Chaucer. (b) To pack together and envelop; to pack up. (c) To accomplish thoroughly. Colloq. (d) To starch and iron. "A rich gown of velvet, and a ruff done up with the famous yellow starch." Hawthorne.
Webster 1913

To do violence on

  • to attack; to murder. "She . . . did violence on herself." Shak.
Webster 1913

To do violence to

  • to outrage; to injure; as, he does violence to his own opinions.
Webster 1913

To do way

  • to take away; to remove. Obs. "Do way your hands." Chaucer.
  • to put away; to lay aside. Obs. Chaucer.
Webster 1913

To do with

  • to dispose of; to make use of; to employ; usually preceded by what. "Men are many times brought to that extremity, that were it not for God they would not know what to do with themselves." Tillotson.
Webster 1913

To do withal

  • to help or prevent it. Obs. "I could not do withal." Shak.
Webster 1913

To do without

  • to get along without; to dispense with.
Webster 1913

To have done

  • to have made an end or conclusion; to have finished; to be quit; to desist.
Webster 1913

To have done with

  • to have completed; to be through with; to have no further concern with.
Webster 1913

To have to do with

  • to have concern, business or intercourse with; to deal with. When preceded by what, the notion is usually implied that the affair does not concern the person denoted by the subject of have. "Philology has to do with language in its fullest sense." Earle. "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? 2 Sam. xvi. 10.
Webster 1913

To stand in stead, ∨ To do stead

  • to be of use or great advantage.
Webster 1913

to-do

  • noun a disorderly outburst or tumult
    disturbance; hurly burly; kerfuffle; commotion; disruption; hoo-ha; hoo-hah; flutter.
    • they were amazed by the furious disturbance they had caused
WordNet
To-do" noun
Etymology
To + do. Cf. Ado.
Definitions
  1. Bustle; stir; commotion; ado. Colloq.
Webster 1913

Well to do

  • in easy circumstances.
  • well off; prosperous; used also adjectively. "The class well to do in the world." J. H. Newman.
Webster 1913

well-done

  • adjective satellite (meat) cooked until there is no pink meat left inside
WordNet

well-to-do

  • adjective satellite in fortunate circumstances financially; moderately rich
    prosperous; well-heeled; well-off; comfortable; well-fixed; well-situated; easy.
    • they were comfortable or even wealthy by some standards
    • easy living
    • a prosperous family
    • his family is well-situated financially
    • well-to-do members of the community
WordNet