do for

English

Verb

do for (third-person singular simple present does for, present participle doing for, simple past did for, past participle done for)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see do, for.
  2. (transitive, British) To doom; to bring about the demise of someone.
    Smoking did for him in the end.
    She's done for!
    • 1918, Siegfried Sassoon, “The General”, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems:
      "He's a cheery old card," muttered Harry to Jack / As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack. / ** * * * / But he did for them both by his plan of attack.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, [], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 604:
      —That bitch, that English whore, did for him, the shebeen proprietor commented. She put the first nail in his coffin.
  3. (transitive, British) To prosecute someone for a criminal offence.
    He was done for murder.
    The police did him for conspiracy to commit burglary.
  4. (UK, dated, intransitive) To work as a domestic servant for.
    Synonyms: attend, serve, wait on, see also Thesaurus:serve
    • 1915, Frank Thomas Bullen, Recollections:
      I've left my key in my office in Manchester, my family are at Bournemouth, and the old woman who does for me goes home at nine o'clock.

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