Duty

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Duty \Du"ty\, n.; pl. {Duties}. [From {Due}.]
     1. That which is due; payment. [Obs. as signifying a material
        thing.]
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              When thou receivest money for thy labor or ware,


              thou receivest thy duty.              --Tyndale.
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     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.
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              Forgetting his duty toward God, his sovereign lord,
              and his country.                      --Hallam.
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     3. Hence, any assigned service or business; as, the duties of
        a policeman, or a soldier; to be on duty.
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              With records sweet of duties done.    --Keble.
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              To employ him on the hardest and most imperative
              duty.                                 --Hallam.
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              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.
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     4. Specifically, obedience or submission due to parents and
        superiors. --Shak.
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     5. Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage. "My
        duty to you." --Shak.
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     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).
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     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.
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     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.]
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     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  duty
       n 1: work that you are obliged to perform for moral or legal
            reasons; "the duties of the job"
       2: the social force that binds you to your obligations and the
          courses of action demanded by that force; "we must instill
          a sense of duty in our children"; "every right implies a
          responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every
          possession, a duty"- John D.Rockefeller Jr [syn: {responsibility},
           {obligation}]
       3: a government tax on imports or exports; "they signed a
          treaty to lower duties on trade between their countries"
          [syn: {tariff}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  279 Moby Thesaurus words for "duty":
     Mass, VAT, accountability, active service, ad valorem duty,
     admiration, adoration, alcohol tax, allegiance, amenability,
     amusement tax, answerability, apotheosis, appreciation,
     approbation, approval, assessment, assessment on default,
     assignment, awe, bedtime prayer, bit, blackmail,
     breathless adoration, burden, business, busywork, call, call for,
     calling, camp meeting, capacity, capital gains tax, capitation,
     capitation tax, cargo, ceremonial, ceremony, cess, character,
     chare, charge, chore, church, church service, claim, commission,
     commitment, committal, compline, conscience money, consideration,
     contribution, corporation tax, courtesy, customs, customs duty,
     deadweight, death duty, death tax, deference, deification, demand,
     demand for, devoir, devotions, direct tax, divine service, doomage,
     draft, drain, end use, errand, estate duty, estate tax, esteem,
     estimation, evening devotions, evensong, exaction,
     exaggerated respect, excess profits tax, excise, excise tax,
     exercise, exercises, export tax, extortion, extortionate demand,
     faithfulness, favor, fealty, federal tax, fidelity, fish to fry,
     form, form of worship, formality, formula, formulary, freight,
     function, gabelle, gift tax, goal, graduated taxation,
     great respect, head tax, heavy demand, hero worship, high regard,
     holy rite, homage, homework, honor, idolatry, idolization,
     immediate purpose, import tax, imposition, impost, income tax,
     indent, indirect tax, inheritance tax, insistent demand,
     institution, internal revenue tax, job, job of work, joint return,
     labor, land tax, lauds, levy, liability, liquor tax, liturgy, load,
     local tax, loyalty, luxury tax, make-work, mark, matins,
     matters in hand, meeting, millstone, mission, mode of worship,
     morning devotions, must, mystery, national service, need,
     night song, none, nones, nonnegotiable demand, notice, novena,
     nuisance tax, object, objective, obligation, observance,
     occupation, odd job, office, onus, operation, operational purpose,
     order, order of worship, ordinance, ought, part,
     personal property tax, piece of work, place, poll, poll tax,
     position, practice, praise meeting, prayer, prayer meeting,
     prayers, prescribed form, prestige, prime, prime song,
     progressive tax, project, property tax, property-increment tax,
     protective tariff, province, provincial tax, public worship,
     purpose, rates, regard, requirement, requisition, respect,
     responsibility, revenue tariff, reverence, reverential regard,
     revival, revival meeting, right, rite, ritual, ritual observance,
     rituality, role, rush, rush order, sacrament, sacramental,
     sales tax, salt tax, school tax, selective service,
     separate returns, service, severance tax, sext, single tax,
     solemnity, specific duty, state tax, stint, supertax, surtax,
     target, tariff, tariff duty, task, tax, tax base, tax dodging,
     tax evasion, tax exemption, tax return, tax structure,
     tax withholding, tax-exempt status, taxable income, taxation,
     taxing, telephone tax, tent meeting, things to do, tierce, tithe,
     toll, tribute, ultimate purpose, ultimatum, undersong, use,
     use tax, value added tax, veneration, vesper, vespers, vigils,
     warning, watch meeting, watch night, watch-night service, weight,
     window tax, withholding tax, work, worship
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DUTY, natural law. A human action which is, exactly conformable to the laws 
  which require us to obey them. 
       2. It differs from a legal obligation, because a duty cannot always be 
  enforced by the law; it is our duty, for example, to be temperate in eating, 
  but we are under no legal obligation to be so; we ought to love our 
  neighbors, but no law obliges us to love them. 
       3. Duties may be considered in the relation of man towards God, towards 
  himself, and towards mankind. 1. We are bound to obey the will of God as far 
  as we are able to discover it, because he is the sovereign Lord of the 
  universe who made and governs all things by his almighty power, and infinite 
  wisdom. The general name of this duty is piety: which consists in 
  entertaining just opinions concerning him, and partly in such affections 
  towards him, and such, worship of him, as is suitable to these opinions. 
       4.-2. A man has a duty to perform towards himself; he is bound by the 
  law of nature to protect his life and his limbs; it is his duty, too, to 
  avoid all intemperance in eating and drinking, and in the unlawful 
  gratification of all his other appetites. 
       5.-3. He has duties to perform towards others. He is bound to do to 
  others the same justice which he would have a right to expect them to do to 
  him. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  DUTY, n.  That which sternly impels us in the direction of profit,
  along the line of desire.
  
      Sir Lavender Portwine, in favor at court,
      Was wroth at his master, who'd kissed Lady Port.
      His anger provoked him to take the king's head,
      But duty prevailed, and he took the king's bread,
              Instead.
                                                                    G.J.
  
  
                                    E