Green’s Dictionary of Slang

done for adj.

[do for v./ext. of done adj.]

1. without a chance, hopeless, defeated, lost, abandoned, ‘finished’.

[UK]‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 112: He’s done for now, Anabelle, [...] you’ll find him quiet enough.
[Ire]T.C. Croker Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1862) 231: ‘I’m done for and lost for ever,’ roared Larry.
[US]T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 138: You’re done for, you’re up a tree, you may depend, pride must fall.
[UK] ‘The Good-For-Nothing’ in Bentley’s Misc. IV 97: With a loud crash it shivered into a thousand pieces. ‘That’s done for! There’ll be a jolly row!’ mournfully ejaculated the servant.
[UK]Thackeray Shabby Genteel Story (1853) 149: ‘He’s done for if he does,’ muttered Tufthunt.
[UK]Broad Arrow Jack 19: Oh, I’m done for!
[UK]J. Hatton Cruel London II 287: Maggs and his lot are done for.
[Ire]C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 488: But my poor grandfather was done for.
[US]‘Mark Twain’ Life on the Mississippi (1914) 197: I said to myself. ‘Now I am done for.’.
T.B. Reed Willoughby Captains (1887) 91: ‘If it was known we’d taken you there, we'd be done for’.
[UK]G. du Maurier Trilby 424: Oh! Taffy, Taffy! I’m g-going mad – I’m g-going m-mad! I’m d-d-done for ...
[UK]Boy’s Own Paper 1 Dec. 136: I reckoned myself, in the long run, fairly done for.
[UK]Marvel 15 Oct. 12: ‘You’re done for, Brooks,’ said the gunner, with a savage grin.
[UK]Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 112: Then I’m done for! No human being could play golf against a one-ring circus like that.
[Aus]C.J. Dennis ‘Spike Wegg’ in Rose of Spadgers 144: I thort, the same as you, / That ’e was dished an’ done fer in the Lane.
[UK]H.E. Bates My Uncle Silas 55: It just went a belly-flopper and was done for.
[US]R. Chandler ‘The King in Yellow’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 78: I’m done for as a nice person, even if not as a lady at large.
[Ire]S. O’Casey Cock-A-Doodle-Dandy Act II: michael: I’m done for. Mahan: We’re both done for. sergeant: We’re all done for.
[UK]G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 276: Then, out of the walls crawls Judas all in black, and you are done for.
[UK]A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 22: She looked done for at this news.
[UK](con. 1940s) J.G. Farrell Singapore Grip 488: Singapore’s done for.
[Aus](con. 1943) G.S. Manson Coorparoo Blues [ebook] The bulls had his number – some bastard had shopped him – and he was done for if they nabbed him.

2. of objects, destroyed.

[UK]T. Hood ‘Tylney Hall’ Works (1862) III 349: His livery’s dish’d and done for!
[UK]Comic Almanack June 365: And shan’t I get into a pretty scrape, / This borrow’d cloak is done for with the cape.
[UK]J. Runciman Chequers 20: A hactor! The Billiters is done for. Their goose is cooked!

3. exhausted, used up.

[US]R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods II 145: Go; – rat it, I’m done for.
[UK]‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) III 356: [chapter heading] Mr Verdant Green is Married and Done for.
[UK](con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 203/2: I was in that state, regular doubled up, for two hours, and I thought I was done for.
[US]Schele De Vere Americanisms 606: Goner is the slang term for a ruined person, a politician, a merchant, or even ‘an official who is gone, done for, finished’.
[US]World (N.Y.) 5 Sept. 3/4: The cranks say John Clarkson is ‘done for.’ He may pitch a good game, but his palmy days are over.
[UK]Joseph Conrad Typhoon 163: ‘She’s done for,’ he said to himself, with a surprising mental agitation, as though he had discovered an unexpected meaning in this thought.
[UK]Boy’s Own Paper XL 4 198: We can put up a bit of a fight [...] And we should account for half-a-dozen before we are done for.
[UK]E. Raymond Tell England (1965) 20: We old fogies [...] are really done for and shelved.
[Aus]T. Wood Cobbers 45: Those meat works at Darwin, f’instance [...] dismantled and done for.
[UK]J. Cary Horse’s Mouth (1948) 21: I’m done for. I’ll have to cut my throat after all.
[UK]J. Betjeman ‘Sun and Fun’ in Coll. Poems (1970) 217: But I’m dying now and done for, / What on earth was all the fun for?
[UK]A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 121: I was too done-for to respond.
[UK]A. Sillitoe Birthday 98: Those who spouted that the family was done for had grown up with more than he’d had as a kid.

4. dead, killed.

[US]N. Ames ‘Old Cuff’ An Old Sailor’s Yarns 67: Old Cuff is done for [...] He has broke his back-bone short off.
[US]R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods III 177: What’s to become of the crittur, when I’m done for?
[US]Durivage & Burnham Stray Subjects (1848) 113: Well, I kno’ed he wus a Jonah [...] an’ ef he hadn’t a bin done fer, as he wus, I’d a licked him to death.
[US]‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. V 50: I’m done for [...] but I tried my best to save you!
[UK](con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 151/1: It’s a very difficult thing to do, is walking about at that tremendous height. If you fall you’re done for.
[US]T.F. Upson diary 17 May in Winther With Sherman to the Sea (1958) 108: I was hit on my belt buckle with a spent ball which knocked me out for a while. The boys thought I was done for and dragged me behind a tree.
[Aus]‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 262: The police got him [i.e. a horse] after Patsey was done for, and kept him till he died of old age.
[US]C. Chesnutt ‘The Conjurer’s Revenge’ in Conjure Woman (1899) 125: Dis yer bottle’s got pizen in it, en I’s done fer dis time, sho’.
[UK]Boy’s Own Paper 25 Mar. 411: I fear he’s done for [...] What a fatality!
[UK]A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 71: Ol’ Bob Ford dead an’ done for—gawn down in the Mooltan. On’y I ain’t done for, see?
[US]Dos Passos Three Soldiers 189: ‘Here’s an officer done for,’ said the captain, who walked ahead.
[US]H. Roth Call It Sleep (1977) 422: Looks like he’s done fer, butchuh can’t tell.
[Aus](con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 57: You remember when that mob of Huns came over the skyline [...] I thought we were all done for.
[US]W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 177: We’re dead, done for, Arky.
[UK]A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 272: If Bill was really taken in Beirut, he was done for.
[US](con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 97: If the time ran out, the girl was done for.
[UK]Flame : a Life on the Game 132: I was gagging, and I knew I was done for unless I did something brutal.