Duty definition | Dictionary.com

du⋅ty

[doo-tee, dyoo-]

–noun, plural -ties.

1.	something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation.

2.	the binding or obligatory force of something that is morally or legally right; moral or legal obligation.

3.	an action or task required by a person's position or occupation; function: the duties of a clergyman.

4.	the respectful and obedient conduct due a parent, superior, elder, etc.

5.	an act or expression of respect.

6.	a task or chore that a person is expected to perform: It's your duty to do the dishes.

Military.

a.	an assigned task, occupation, or place of service: He was on radar duty for two years.

b.	the military service required of a citizen by a country: After graduation, he began his duty.

8.	Commerce. a specific or ad valorem tax imposed by law on the import or export of goods.

9.	a payment, service, etc., imposed and enforceable by law or custom.

10.	Chiefly British. tax: income duty.

11.

Machinery.

a.	the amount of work done by an engine per unit amount of fuel consumed.

b.	the measure of effectiveness of any machine.

12.	Agriculture. the amount of water necessary to provide for the crop in a given area.

13.	Baby Talk. bowel movement.

—Idioms

14.	do duty, to serve the same function; substitute for: bookcases that do duty as room dividers.

15.	off duty, not at one's post or work; at liberty: They spent their days off duty in hiking and fishing.

16.	on duty, at one's post or work; occupied; engaged: He was suspended from the force for being drunk while on duty.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME du(e)te < AF duete. See due, -ty ²

Synonyms:
1. Duty, obligation refer to what one feels bound to do. Duty is what one performs, or avoids doing, in fulfillment of the permanent dictates of conscience, piety, right, or law: duty to one's country; one's duty to tell the truth, to raise children properly. An obligation is what one is bound to do to fulfill the dictates of usage, custom, or propriety, and to carry out a particular, specific, and often personal promise or agreement: financial obligations. 3. responsibility, business. 4. deference.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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du·ty (dōō'tē, dyōō'-)

n. pl. du·ties

An act or a course of action that is required of one by position, social custom, law, or religion: Do your duty to your country.
1. Moral obligation: acting out of duty.
2. The compulsion felt to meet such obligation.
3. The work performed by a machine under specified conditions.
4. A measure of efficiency expressed as the amount of work done per unit of energy used.
A service, function, or task assigned to one, especially in the armed forces: hazardous duty.
Function or work; service: jury duty. See Synonyms at function.
A tax charged by a government, especially on imports.
1. The work performed by a machine under specified conditions.
2. A measure of efficiency expressed as the amount of work done per unit of energy used.
The total volume of water required to irrigate a given area in order to cultivate a specific crop until harvest.

[Middle English duete, from Anglo-Norman, from due, variant of Old French deu, due; see due.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Duty

Du"ty\, n.; pl. Duties. [From Due.]

1. That which is due; payment. [Obs. as signifying a material thing.]

When thou receivest money for thy labor or ware, thou receivest thy duty. --Tyndale.

2. That which a person is bound by moral obligation to do, or refrain from doing; that which one ought to do; service morally obligatory.

Forgetting his duty toward God, his sovereign lord, and his country. --Hallam.

3. Hence, any assigned service or business; as, the duties of a policeman, or a soldier; to be on duty.

With records sweet of duties done. --Keble.

To employ him on the hardest and most imperative duty. --Hallam.

Duty is a graver term than obligation. A duty hardly exists to do trivial things; but there may be an obligation to do them. --C. J. Smith.

4. Specifically, obedience or submission due to parents and superiors. --Shak.

5. Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage. "My duty to you." --Shak.

6. (Engin.) The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States).

7. (Com.) Tax, toll, impost, or customs; excise; any sum of money required by government to be paid on the importation, exportation, or consumption of goods.

Note: An impost on land or other real estate, and on the stock of farmers, is not called a duty, but a direct tax. [U.S.]

Ad valorem duty, a duty which is graded according to the cost, or market value, of the article taxed. See Ad valorem.

Specific duty, a duty of a specific sum assessed on an article without reference to its value or market.

On duty, actually engaged in the performance of one's assigned task.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Duty

Spanish: deber,

German: die Pflicht,

Japanese: 義務

More Translations »

duty

A tax charged by a government, especially on an import.

duty

1297, from Anglo-Fr. duete, from O.Fr. deu "due, owed," from V.L. *debutus, from L. debitus, pp. of debere "to owe." The sense of "tax or fee in imports, exports, etc." is from 1474; duty-free as a noun is attested from 1958.

duty

See tariff.

Main Entry: du·ty
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural du·ties
Etymology: Anglo-French deuté indebtedness, obligation, from deu owing, due, from Old French —see DUE
1 : tasks, service, or functions that arise from one's position duties>; also : a period of being on duty —see also JURY DUTY
2 : an obligation assumed (as by contract) or imposed by law to conduct oneself in conformance with a certain standard or to act in a particular way <duty of good faith> duty to warn of danger> —see also PUBLIC DUTY DOCTRINE, SPECIAL DUTY DOCTRINE

duty of can·dor
/-'kan-d&r/
: a duty obligating directors of a corporation to disclose all material facts known to them about a transaction when they are seeking shareholder approval

duty of care
: a duty to use due care toward others in order to protect them from unnecessary risk of harm

duty of fair representation
: a duty obligating a labor union to represent the employees in its collective bargaining unit fairly and in good faith

duty of loy·al·ty
: a duty obligating directors of a corporation to refrain from using their positions to further their own interests rather than the interests of the shareholders (as by self-dealing or fraud)

fiduciary duty
: a duty obligating a fiduciary (as an agent or trustee) to act with loyalty and honesty and in a manner consistent with the best interests of the beneficiary of the fiduciary relationship (as a principal or trust beneficiary)
3 : TAX; especially : a tax on imports—off duty : not engaged in a duty off duty>—on duty : engaged in a duty

duty

In addition to the idiom beginning with duty, also see above and beyond (the call of duty); active duty do one's duty; double duty; off duty; on duty.

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