Do

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Perform or carry out an action ; a helping verb that forms questions and negatives ; be enough or acceptable ; cheat or swindle someone ; a party or gathering ; the first note of the major scale
2. Carry out or execute a task ; an auxiliary verb used in questions and negation ; suffice for a purpose ; con or trick a person ; an informal social event ; the tonic note in solfege
3. Take action or accomplish something ; a supporting verb for questions, negatives and emphasis ; be satisfactory for a need ; swindle or defraud a person ; a festive gathering ; the syllable naming the first musical tone

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "do" is that its past tense, "did", is a strange irregular form. Old English had "dyde", and the expected Germanic development would have produced something like "ded", so "did" is an unexpected outgrowth from the same ancient root, which also gave us the word "put" in its original sense of "place". The verb's deeper family is wide. Through Latin it is related to "feast", "festival" and "fair" in the sense of celebration, and through Greek to "theme" and "thesis", all from a root meaning to set or place. Its Sanskrit cousins include "dhātṛ", meaning creator. The most striking use of "do" is perhaps the grammatical one. In Middle English, speakers began using it in questions and negations, as in "Do you like painting?" By Early Modern English it had become an empty helper, and its use was soon required in most questions and negations.

Synonyms: perform, execute, accomplish, complete

Antonyms: undo, fail