Do

A contraction of ditto, which is the Italian détto (said), Latin dictus.

How do you do? i.e. How do you fare? It should be, How do you du! (Anglo-Saxon, dug-an = valēre); in Latin, Quomodo vales.

Well to do. This, again, is not the transitive verb (facĕre) but the intransitive verb (valēre), and means “well to fare.” (Anglo-Saxon, dug-an = valēre.)

To do him, i.e. cheat or trick a person out of something.

I have done the Jew, i.e. over-reached him. The same as outdo = excel.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Do

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