Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Performance of an act.
  • noun Activities that go on every day.
  • noun Social events and activities.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thing done; a transaction, feat, or action, good or bad.
  • noun plural Course of action; the steps or measures taken in regard to something; proceedings; movements.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Anything done; a deed; an action good or bad; hence, in the plural, conduct; behavior. See do.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A deed or action, especially when somebody is held responsible for it.
  • verb Present participle of do.
  • interjection The sound made by an elastic object when struck by or striking a hard object.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See do.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Onomatopoeic.

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Examples

  • Singing or playing is doing; reading the notes is doing; studying out the composer's meaning is doing; making others feel it is doing; everything is doing; and _doing_ is true living, _provided it is unselfish_.

    Music Talks with Children Thomas Tapper

  • _Innominate contracts_ are reckoned four: _I give on the terms of your giving_, otherwise than as buying and selling, -- to some forms of this there are English names, as _exchange_ and _barter_: _I do on the terms of your doing: I do on the terms of your giving: I give on the terms of your doing_.

    Moral Philosophy Joseph Rickaby 1888

  • Baedekers, who are doing Rome and at the same time _doing_ the Pope's

    The Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life, 1875-1912 1886

  • There was Mrs. Derrick; and what of all things doing but _doing up_ some of Faith's new ruffles!

    Say and Seal, Volume II Susan Warner 1852

  • Never mind how _dull_ you may feel while doing it; the fact of your feeling excited proves nothing; the fact of your _doing_ it proves that your will, your spiritual part, is on God's side, however tired or careless the poor flesh may be.

    Daily Thoughts selected from the writings of Charles Kingsley by his wife Charles Kingsley 1847

  • I am not doing anything that I should not be doing… so what is the big fucking deal?

    goldenboy Diary Entry goldenboy 2006

  • Such "talking" would never be looked upon with disparagement if it were not allowed to stop "doing"; which it never would, if assemblies knew and acknowledged that talking and discussion are their proper business, while _doing_, as the result of discussion, is the task not of a miscellaneous body, but of individuals specially trained to it; that the fit office of an assembly is to see that those individuals are honestly and intelligently chosen, and to interfere no further with them, except by unlimited latitude of suggestion and criticism, and by applying or withholding the final seal of national assent.

    Considerations on Representative Government John Stuart Mill 1839

  • “laws of reason” in the list of divinely revealed commandments and prohibitions, God, in effect, allows His subjects to do what they would be doing anyway (viz. acting in accordance with basic, reason-based moral ideals), but enables them to get the additional bonus of being rewarded for ˜doing God's bidding™.

    Saadya [Saadiah] Pessin, Sarah 2003

  • While I have enough friends involved to have some idea of what SFWA *could* do and intends to do and talks about doing, it’s nice to see someone kicking the organization in it’s collective arse and suggesting it get on with *doing* rather than thinking about doing.

    Out in the Open (A SFWA-Related Post) « Whatever 2007

  • I always wanted to go talk to him and see how he was doing or what he was doing… but I couldn’t …

    rabid-pandas Diary Entry rabid-pandas 2007

  • It was there that a recovering junkie friend explained to me the term “doing a geographic”, a concept reportedly born among members of Alcoholics Anonymous, which means moving to a new city or state instead of facing one’s problems.

    ‘I was running to adventure – and away from myself’ | Jami Attenberg Jami Attenberg 2020

Comments

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  • when i see this word written, my mind mischievously wants to pronounce it like "boing". Stupid, really.

    May 14, 2009

  • What's going on in your head?

    May 14, 2009