dutyn.
/ˈdjuːti/, /ˈdʒuːti/, U.S. /ˈd(j)udi/ 1.
a. The action and conduct due to a superior; homage, submission; due respect, reverence; an expression of submission, deference, or respect.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > respect > [noun] > due respect or respectful service
duty1297
service1567
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (1724) 316 Þe kyng..gret deuyte tolde of hem, vor her gentryse.
c1405 (c1385) G. Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 2196 That goode Arcite..Departed is with duetee and with honour Out of this foule prison of this lyf.
c1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 994 To do hym reuerence & dewtee.
1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Qviijv [To] doe his duetie with his cappe of, to his better.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 141 Stay not thy complement, I forgiue thy dewtie, adue. View more context for this quotation
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. ii. 252 Our duties to your honor.
1703 N. Rowe Fair Penitent Ded. What Duty, what Submission shall they not pay to that Authority?
1850 H. Martineau Hist. Eng. during 30 Years' Peace II. v. ix. 341 Before noon, came the Lord Mayor, with aldermen and other members of the Corporation, to offer their duty on behalf of the city of London.
1875 Princess Alice in Mem. 15 June (1884) 337 Many, many kisses from all children, and William's respectful duty.
b. spec. An action due to a feudal superior or lord of a manor. Cf. also 3d.
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1893 C. Elton & H. Mackay Law of Copyholds (ed. 2) App. v. No. 17. 502 To have and to hold..according to the custom of the manor, by and under the rents, duties, and services therefor due and of right accustomed.
a. with possessive of the person to whom it is due.
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society > morality > dueness or propriety > [noun] > right or moral entitlement > one's due
rightOE
dutyc1386
duec1450
expectativec1540
expectancy1624
expectance1652
c1386 G. Chaucer Friar's Tale 54 His maister had not half his duetee.
c1386 G. Chaucer Friar's Tale 93 To reysen vp a rente That longeth to my lordes duetee.
c1440 Generydes 2016 He and his ayeris claymeth it of dewte.
1476 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 496 Dyverse have lost mony er they cowde gete ther dywtes owte off th, Estaple.
1487 Act 3 Hen. VII c. 4 [5] Preamb. To defraude ther creditours of their duties.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. xx. f. xxviij Take that which is thy duty.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Luke xii. f. xcviij To geve them their dueti of meate, at due season.
1541 R. Barnes Wks. (1573) 231/1 To him that worketh is the rewarde not geuen of fauour, but of duetye.
1642 tr. J. Perkins Profitable Bk. xi. §755. 331 A stranger by his act without my assent shall not take away my duty.
b. with possessive of the person by whom it is due.
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c1460 (a1449) J. Lydgate Legend St. Austin (Harl. 2255) l. 177 in Minor Poems (1911) i. 198 How may this be that thou art [so] froward To hooly chirche to pay thy dewtee.
?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman iii. i. sig. q.ij To paye theyr duety vnto nature, as theyr creditoure.
1573 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xlii. 198 Kirkis..dois also pay Thair dewtie alsweill as thay.
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 291 a If A. be accountable to B. and B. releaseth him all his duties.
3. † b. Payment for the services of the church. Chiefly plural. Obsolete (superseded by dues).
a. A payment due and enforced by law or custom.
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1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) vi. 150 He sholde be free of all maner of duytes the space of X yeres.
1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 559 Therewith were they quite of all duetyes, both of rent, custome, tribute, and tolle.
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society > faith > worship > benefice > other financial matters > [noun] > church dues
churchseteOE
church scotOE
kirk scota1200
duty1431
droit1481
hearth money1660
1431 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 88 Y wille that my parisshe chirches haue alle here duetees.
1514 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1884) V. 53 I will that the parrysh prest and the parrysh clerke have ther dewty as they by custome have hadde aforetyme.
1546 Supplic. Poor Commons sig. c.iiv These cheritable men..woulde not take the paynes to burie the dead corps, onlesse they had theyr dwtye, as they call it.
1552 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16279) Matrymonye sig. P.vi The man shal geue vnto the woman a ryng, laying the same vpon the boke with the accustomed duty to the priest and clerke [so also in 1662].
1562 in F. J. Furnivall Child-marriages, Divorces, & Ratifications Diocese Chester (1897) 139 That they shuld resort to their owne parish churche..and pay their duties accordingly.
c. A payment to the public revenue levied upon the import, export, manufacture, or sale of certain commodities, the transfer of or succession to property, licence to use certain things or practise certain trades or pursuits, or the legal recognition of deeds and documents, as contracts, receipts, certificates, protests, affidavits, etc. Applied to the payments included under the several heads of customs, excise, licences, stamp-duties, probate and succession duties (death duties), inhabited house duty.In general, ‘duties’ differ from other taxes in that they are levied upon specific articles or transactions, and not upon persons whether by capitation or in proportion to their income or possessions. But the distinction is not strictly observed in language; a ‘window-tax’ and ‘dog-tax’ are duties, as much as the inhabited house duty, or the duty on men-servants.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > tax > [noun]
tacka1300
taxa1327
tail1340
stent138.
emption1467
duty1474
stint1485
teamc1485
liverage1544
stipend1545
toust1574
sess1579
cut1634
censure1641
gild1656
leviation1681
levation1690
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iii. vii. 139 The costumes, tolles, scawage, peages, and duetes of the cytees.
1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII c. 20. §1 Yf eny concelement be founde in the merchaundez of the dewetye aforeseid [= poundage].
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 216/1 Dutie or exaction, exaction.
1660 Act 12 Chas. II c. 4 Sched. of Rules r. 4 Any kind of Wines wch formerlie have paid all the dutyes of the Tonnage inwardes.
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 168 Here, having payd some small duty, we bought divers trifles offerd us by the Souldiers but without going on Land.
1669 Sc. Acts Chas. II c. 9 The tolls customes and other dewties belonging to the said yeerlie fair and weeklie mercat.
1705 London Gaz. No. 4154/4. 86 Hogsheads of..White Wine..to be deliver'd free of all Duties, except the Orphans Duty.
1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 2 Oct. (1948) II. 375 Cards are very dear, there is a duty on them of sixpence a pack.
1711 Act 10 Anne c. 19 §34 The said Books, Prints, and Maps as are to pay the said Duties ad Valorem.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 445. ¶3 I am informed by my Bookseller he must raise the Price of every single Paper to Twopence, or that he shall not be able to pay the Duty of it.
1767 Exam. Dr. B. Franklin 47 By taxes they [sc. the American colonists] mean internal taxes; by duties they mean customs.
1825 J. R. McCulloch Princ. Polit. Econ. iii. viii. 387 High duties were laid on foreign corn when imported.
1894 Act 57 & 58 Vict. c. 30. §34 Duties of income tax granted by this act.
1894 W. Harcourt Speech in Commons 16 Apr. The death duties have grown up piecemeal and bear traces of their fragmentary origin..There exist at present five duties, and there is a wide distinction between them that may be illustrated by the Probate and Legacy Duty.
d. Scots Law. A payment made in recognition of feudal superiority; hence, the rent of a feu or lease-hold tenement (perpetual or for a term of years). mails and duties: see mails and duties at mail n.1
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > hire or rent > rent (land or real property) > [noun] > feu duty
dutyc1540
feu-annual1551
feu-duty1597
c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. xi. viii. f. 160v/1 He dischargit yame of all malis and dewiteis aucht to hym for v. ȝeris to cum.
c1565 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1728) 169 Constrained to pay the yearly duty and mails of the said lands.
1606 Sc. Acts Jas. VI c. 13 (title) Act in favouris of his Majesteis vassellis for payment of their blenshe dueties.
1669 Sc. Acts Chas. II c. 5 But preiudice to Superiors, to vse poinding against their Vassalls for their few duties.
1723 W. Buchanan Family Buchanan (1820) 245 Payment of four pennies of blench-duty if demanded.
1861 G. Ross W. Bell's Dict. Law Scotl. (rev. ed.) (at cited word) Feu-duty..The feu-duty is truly a rent in cattle, grain, money, or services, generally agricultural; varying in amount from an adequate to a merely elusory rent.
4.
a. Action, or an act, that is due in the way of moral or legal obligation; that which one ought or is bound to do; an obligation. (The chief current sense.)
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal obligation > [noun]
dutyc1385
subjectiona1475
engagement1636
obstriction1671
obligation1887
society > morality > duty or obligation > [noun]
debtc1330
officec1330
obliginga1382
dutyc1385
bondc1449
due?a1475
bounden duty1530
dueness1576
behoof1591
obligement1611
obligationa1616
ought1678
right1752
c1385 G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (MS. Gg. 4. 27) Prol. 360 Hym owith o verry duetee..wel to heryn here excusacyons.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) xiv. 324 Yet have I lever to serve you, as mi dute is for to doo.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Luke xvii. f. ciiij We have done that which was oure duetye to do.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement Ep. Ded. 5 My most bounden duetie to obey.
1560 Bible (Geneva) Ecclus. xii. 13 Feare God and kepe his commandments: for this is the whole dutie of man.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxxi. 186 The entire Knowledge of Civill duty.
1748 Bp. J. Butler Serm. in Wks. (1874) II. 317 Economy is the duty of all persons, without exception.
1805 Ld. Nelson in J. K. Laughton Nelson (1895) xi. 221 [Signal at Trafalgar, 21 Oct.] ‘England expects that every man will do his duty.’
1845 M. Pattison in Christian Remembrancer Jan. 75 To do one's duty thoroughly is not easy in the most peaceable times.
1876 J. B. Mozley Univ. Serm. (1877) ix. 183 The New Testament says comparatively little about duties to equals, and enlarges upon duties to inferiors.
b. Absolutely: Moral obligation; the binding force of what is morally right. (Sometimes personified.)
ΚΠ
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 86v Where duetie can haue no show, honestie can beare no sway.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iii. 172 Zeal and Duty are not slow; But on Occasions forelock watchful wait. View more context for this quotation
1729 W. Law Serious Call ix. 132 Out of a pious, tender sense of duty.
1805 W. Wordsworth Ode to Duty i Stern Daughter of the Voice of God! O Duty!
1869 J. R. Lowell Parting of Ways 8 The figure of a woman veiled, that said, ‘My name is Duty, turn and follow me’.
1894 Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough II. xci. 445 In England the noble, selfless word ‘duty’ has long been the motto of her most famous warrior sons.
5.
a. The action which one's position or station directly requires; business, office, function.
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society > occupation and work > duties > [noun]
wikec1000
workOE
wikenc1175
misterc1225
curec1300
officec1330
ward1338
duty1375
parta1382
businessc1400
commissionc1450
besoigne1474
roomth?1504
function1533
exercitation1737
pidgin1807
job1841
biz1862
society > morality > duty or obligation > [noun] > one's duty, duties, or obligations > of one's office or position
officec1330
duty1375
trust1643
place1652
1375–89 in Eng. Gilds 5 Ȝif eny..haue dwellid in þe bretherhede vij. ȝer, and done þerto alle þe duytes with-in þe tyme.
1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis I. 12 Which is the propre duetee Belongend unto the presthode.
1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII c. 1. §2 If..Constables do not theire dutie as is aforesayd.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Chron. x. D Their dewtye was to geue attendaunce to open euery mornynge.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 102 Other Fakiers (whose Duty it is daily to salute the Sun at his Height, Rising, and Setting, with their Musick).
1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. iii. 53 His father..was..too aged to do the duty [of forest ranger].
b. Ecclesiastical. Performance of the prescribed services or offices of the church; (Roman Catholic Church) attendance at the public services, confession, communion, etc. ministerial or clerical duty, or (with contextual indication) simply duty: the regular ministration and service of a clergyman.
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society > faith > worship > other practices > [noun] > ecclesiastical duty
duty1526
surplice duty1824
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. HHHiiiv Whan ye syng or say your duety.
1692 Covt. Grace Conditional 71 Persons that have cast off Sabbaths, Duties, Ordinances.
1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice I. xiii. 142 Provided that some other clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day. View more context for this quotation
1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park II. vii. 159 Edmund might, in the common phrase, do the duty of Thornton, that is, he might read prayers and preach. View more context for this quotation
1843 C. J. Lever Jack Hinton (1878) xix. 132 He [a priest] asked why Tim didn't come to his duties.
1891 E. Peacock Narcissa Brendon II. 197 A papist always going to her duties.
1897 N.E.D. at Duty Mod. He lived in my rectory and took duty for me last August. He does Sunday duty in a neighbouring parish.
c. Military. Prescribed or appointed military service (now, other than actual engagement with an enemy: see quot. 1853).
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society > armed hostility > military service > [noun] > military duty
duty1590
1590 R. Williams Briefe Disc. Warre 30 Considering the number of hands that come to fight, and to doo duetie.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. viii. 1 Keepe your Duties As I haue set them downe. View more context for this quotation
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 493. ⁋1 A Regiment which did Duty in the West-Indies.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 585 It had been wisely determined that the duty of the capital should be chiefly done by the British soldiers in the service of the States General.
1853 J. H. Stocqueler Mil. Encycl. 92/2 Duty, the exercise of those functions which belong to a soldier, with this distinction, that duty is counted the mounting guard, etc., where no enemy is to be engaged; but when any body of men marches to meet the enemy, it is strictly called going upon service.
Categories »
d. Education. The service other than teaching performed by an assistant master, consisting in taking charge of the pupils out of school hours, superintending preparation of lessons, keeping order in corridors and dormitories, and the like.Sometimes this work is shared among the members of the staff, some of whom are thus on while others are off duty; sometimes it is done entirely, or nearly so, by a duty-master.
e. on duty: engaged in the performance of one's appointed office, service, or task. off duty: the opposite of this; not officially engaged.
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society > occupation and work > working > [adjective] > working
workingOE
on duty1667
on-duty1942
society > leisure > [adjective] > at or having leisure > having time off
watch-free1581
off1826
sabbatical1836
off duty1852
spare1919
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 333 Men wont to watch On duty . View more context for this quotation
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 134 Killing Two of the Watch on Duty.
1700 S. L. tr. C. Schweitzer Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 298 I was upon Duty in the Fort Galture.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. i. 4 On duty with his regiment in Germany.
1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond II. ii. 25 When off duty..Captain Dick often came to console his friends.
f. Of things: to do duty, to discharge a function; to serve or stand for something else.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > exchange > substitution > supplanting or replacement > take the place of or replace [verb (intransitive)]
to stand for ——lOE
to give steadc1340
to stand in a person's stead?a1515
to do (obs.), fill, serve, supply the stead of1558
to fill the room of1562
to usurp the place of1574
suppullulate1601
to stead upa1616
to take the place ofa1616
succenturiate1630
act1651
succeed1692
to do duty1825
1825 H. Wilson Mem. II. 175 Such a thing on his head, doing duty for a hat!
1871 J. Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue vi. 249 Observe that ought does duty for both these senses.
1873 H. B. Tristram Land of Moab ii. 28 A railway reading lamp did duty for footlights.
1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 198 With historians and other prose writers, stock epithets almost always do duty.
g. to do (one's) duty: euphemism for ‘to defecate, urinate’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > defecation or urination > [verb (intransitive)]
to do one's business1596
to pluck a rose1613
to pay a call1648
to go backward1748
go1804
to do (one's) duty1935
to wash one's hands1938
to spend a penny1945
perform1963
1935 A. J. Cronin Stars look Down iii. iv. 509 The lamb ran away and stood in the middle of the field doing duties at an adjacent haystack.
1938 I. Goldberg Wonder of Words vi. 108 The child..never defecates or urinates; he..does his ‘duty’.
6. Mechanics. The measure of effectiveness of an engine, expressed by the number of units of practically effective work done per unit amount or weight of fuel. (See also quot. 1890.)
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > [noun] > instrument for testing > for measuring effectiveness, rotation, etc.
duty1827
revolution counter1855
motometer1876
rev counter1888
torsionmeter1905
torque meter1911
torsiograph1930
1827 D. Gilbert in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 142 26 Duty, a term first introduced by Mr. Watt, in ascertaining the comparative merit of steam-engines.
1874 J. H. Collins Princ. Metal Mining (1875) xvi. 102 Good Cornish engines..in water-works, whose ‘duty’ averages nearly, or quite, 100,000,000 foot-lbs., or in other words, which lift one hundred million pounds of water one foot high, by the consumption of each hundredweight of coal.
1876 P. G. Tait Lect. Recent Adv. in Physical Sci. vi. 151 The duty of an animal engine is much larger than the duty of any other engine, steam or electro-magnetic.
1890 J. W. Powell in Cent. Mag. 770/2 The amount of water which is needed to serve an acre of land. This is called the ‘duty’ of water, and in the United States it varies widely.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a.
duty call n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > visit > [noun] > courtesy or duty
duty call1864
visite de digestion1908
courtesy visit1934
courtesy call1957
1864 C. M. Yonge Trial viii. 142 Forgetting her has not been easy to the payers of duty calls.
1905 Daily Chron. 2 Aug. 4/6 When he [sc. the Kaiser] made his duty-call to the Danish capital.
duty dance n.
ΚΠ
1850 J. von Tautphœus Initials (Bentley ed.) 325 Released from what he probably considered a duty dance.
1881 ‘Rita’ My Lady Coquette viii I am marked out for..duty-dances for the rest of the evening.
duty man n.
ΚΠ
1906 Westm. Gaz. 15 Sept. 4/1 Prepared to join the suggested training battalion for a further period of six months, as non-commissioned officers and ‘Duty-men’.
1942 Gen 1 May 42/1 Special dutymen to your stations!
b.
duty-doing n.
ΚΠ
1563 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments 1332/2 So troubling and deteininge him from hys duetie doing.
duty-monger n.
ΚΠ
1692 Covt. Grace Conditional 71 Calling them, Duty-mongers, Men of an Old Testament Spirit.
c. (in sense 3d.)
duty-fowl n.
ΚΠ
1804 M. Edgeworth Rosanna ii, in Pop. Tales II. 100 Mr. Hopkins sent notice that they must pay all the duty-fowl and duty-geese.
duty-ore n.
ΚΠ
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 130 Duty-ore (Cornw.), the landlord's share of the ore.
C2.
duty-bound adj. bound by duty; morally or legally obliged (cf. quot. bound adj.2 7a).
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal obligation > [adjective] > under obligation
attendant1393
obligate?a1475
obliged1596
thirleda1722
obligated1740
duty-bound1908
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > [adjective] > bound or under obligation
indebted?c1225
boundena1400
owingc1400
debtfulc1425
belast1441
beholdena1450
worthy1469
obligate?a1475
subjectc1480
bound1488
debt-bounda1522
obstrict1527
addicted1535
oughting1567
devinct1573
bounded1586
obliged1596
affineda1616
boundant1654
guilty1700
obligated1740
behoven1880
duty-bound1908
due1913
1908 T. Hardy Dynasts: Pt. 3rd iii. i. 93 I was duty-bound To let him know.
1957 H. Roosenburg Walls came tumbling Down viii. 191 This Dutch officer..would be duty-bound to stop it.
duty cycle n. (see quot. 1924).
ΚΠ
1924 S. R. Roget Dict. Electr. Terms 70/2 Duty cycle, the cycle of operation (starting, running and stopping) which a motor on intermittent duty performs each time it runs. Duty cycle factor, the ratio of the equivalent constant current during a duty cycle to the steady running current of the motor.
1962 J. H. Simpson & R. S. Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors xvi. 419 Such low duty-cycle devices as radio beacons.
1971 Nature 19 Mar. 160/2 The higher pulse repetition rate of the radar does not increase the accuracy if the signal-to-noise ratios and overall duty cycles (fraction of time that the transmitter is on) are equal in the two cases.
duty-paid adj. on which customs or excise duty has been paid.
ΚΠ
1893 Times 13 June 9/4 A large export of duty-paid Irish spirits.
1930 P. Snowden in Speech in House of Commons 15 July The extent to which duty-paid stocks of lace are being re-exported with the intention of re-importing them duty free.
duty-pay n. a bonus paid for work done outside the ordinary routine work (see also quot. 18791).
ΚΠ
1879 Cassell's Family Mag. 5 103/2 ‘Duty pay’ (i.e. extra pay awarded to men whose work is of a specially onerous or responsible kind).
1879 C. Marvin Our Public Offices 67 Most of these extras in the way of nomenclature had something handsome attached to them in the shape of gratification money or ‘duty-pay’.
duty-sergeant n. a sergeant who has the charge of seeing that military duty ( 5c) is done.
ΚΠ
1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 13 Sept. 3/1 There should..be more sergeants to a battalion, so as to give four duty-sergeants to each company.
duty-sounding n. the sounding of a trumpet for some special military duty.
ΚΠ
1799 Instr. & Regulations Cavalry (ed. 3) 369 Trumpet Duty Soundings. 1. Reveillé. 2. Stable Call—For stable Duties.
1844 Queen's Regulations & Orders Army 140 The Duty-Soundings of every Regiment are to be invariably performed on Trumpets in the Key of E flat.
C3. attributive or quasi-adj. Designating a visit, work, etc., undertaken as a duty (opposed to the same undertaken voluntarily or for pleasure); also applied to a person whom one visits, etc., as a duty. Cf. duty call n., duty dance n. at Compounds 1a.
ΚΠ
1806 M. Edgeworth Leonora II. xlii. 4 If it be duty-work kindness, I would not give thanks for it.
1852 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 5 June (1954) II. 32 Mrs. M[ackay] is disagreeably nervous and wanting in ease. One feels very glad when she has done her duty-talk.
1873 C. M. Yonge Pillars of House IV. xxxix. 151 Their grandson never went near them if he could help it, only enduring a duty-visit by the help of shooting.
1939 C. Isherwood Goodbye to Berlin 268 It was more probably a duty-party, given once a year, to all the relatives, friends and dependents of the family.
1941 M. Treadgold We couldn't leave Dinah iv. 64 Dreary duty-visits to the tall sombre house in Eaton Square.
1946 A. Christie Hollow i. 13 We had him to lunch with some other Duty people.
1953 J. Masters Lotus & Wind vii. 97 Her father circled sedately from time to time with duty-partners.
1970 P. Moyes Who saw her Die? i. 14 I'll go and have a duty dinner with Kitty Prestwether. She's been pestering me ever since we got here.
Draft additions March 2016
duty calls: used (frequently as an interjection) to signal an obligation or intent to focus on a pressing responsibility, or to resume work after a period of leisure or distraction. Cf. call v. 19.
ΚΠ
1736 A. Hill tr. Voltaire Alzira iv. 43 Time flies—Night blackens—Duty calls.
1856 Melbourne Punch 18 Sept. 50/1 'Tis no use waiting Duty calls I must obey; stay not for the rain abating.
1951 Boys' Life June 32/4 No loafing Deputy Bates. Duty calls.
2005 W. Deverell April Fool xi. 135 Darling, I'm sorry but duty calls. I'll be off-island for the next few days.
Draft additions March 2017
duty solicitor a solicitor appointed by rota to attend courts or police stations to assist and advise defendants who lack legal representation; also attributive, as duty solicitor scheme, etc.
ΚΠ
1964 Act of Adjournal (Criminal Legal Aid Fees) Statutory Instrument No. 1410 §3.1 There shall be allowed to the duty solicitor representing accused persons in the sheriff court on rota in terms of article 6 of the Scheme, fees on the following scale.
1985 R. C. A. White Admin. of Justice ii. iv. 52 The duty solicitor usually can..make straightforward pleas in mitigation where the defendant is pleading guilty.
1999 Student Times 2 Oct. 16/1 The police must give you info about the duty solicitor scheme if you don't have your own lawyer.
2015 E. Dolan Tell No Tales xxiii. 149 The man..sitting stoic in an interview room, waiting for whichever duty solicitor was unfortunate enough to be on call on a Friday night.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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