duty

[ doo-tee, dyoo- ]
/ ˈdu ti, ˈdyu- /

noun, plural du·ties.

Idioms for duty

Origin of duty

1250–1300; Middle English du(e)te < Anglo-French duete. See due, -ty2

synonym study for duty

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.

British Dictionary definitions for on duty

duty
/ (ˈdjuːtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

Word Origin for duty

C13: from Anglo-French dueté, from Old French deu due

Cultural definitions for on duty

duty

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

Idioms and Phrases with on duty (1 of 2)

on duty

At one's post, at work, as in The new nurse was on duty that evening, or The watchman was fired because he was drunk on duty. [Mid-1600s] The antonym, off duty, means “not engaged in one's work,” as in Captain Smith was much more amiable when he was off duty. [Mid-1800s]

Idioms and Phrases with on duty (2 of 2)

duty