Green’s Dictionary of Slang

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

1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 112: He’s done for now, Anabelle, [...] you’ll find him quiet enough.
1825		T.C. Croker Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1862) 231: ‘I’m done for and lost for ever,’ roared Larry.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 138: You’re done for, you’re up a tree, you may depend, pride must fall.
1838		‘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.
1840		Thackeray Shabby Genteel Story (1853) 149: ‘He’s done for if he does,’ muttered Tufthunt.
1866		Broad Arrow Jack 19: Oh, I’m done for!
1878		J. Hatton Cruel London II 287: Maggs and his lot are done for.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 488: But my poor grandfather was done for.
1883		‘Mark Twain’ Life on the Mississippi (1914) 197: I said to myself. ‘Now I am done for.’.
1883		T.B. Reed Willoughby Captains (1887) 91: ‘If it was known we’d taken you there, we'd be done for’.
1894		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 ...
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 1 Dec. 136: I reckoned myself, in the long run, fairly done for.
1910		Marvel 15 Oct. 12: ‘You’re done for, Brooks,’ said the gunner, with a savage grin.
1922		Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 112: Then I’m done for! No human being could play golf against a one-ring circus like that.
1924		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.
1939		H.E. Bates My Uncle Silas 55: It just went a belly-flopper and was done for.
1938		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.
1949		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.
1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 276: Then, out of the walls crawls Judas all in black, and you are done for.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 22: She looked done for at this news.
1978		(con. 1940s) J.G. Farrell Singapore Grip 488: Singapore’s done for.
2012		(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.

1834		T. Hood ‘Tylney Hall’ Works (1862) III 349: His livery’s dish’d and done for!
1843		Comic Almanack June 365: And shan’t I get into a pretty scrape, / This borrow’d cloak is done for with the cape.
1888		J. Runciman Chequers 20: A hactor! The Billiters is done for. Their goose is cooked!

3. exhausted, used up.

1837		R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods II 145: Go; – rat it, I’m done for.
1857		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) III 356: [chapter heading] Mr Verdant Green is Married and Done for.
1861		(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.
1872		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’.
1890		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.
1903		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.
1917		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.
1922		E. Raymond Tell England (1965) 20: We old fogies [...] are really done for and shelved.
1934		T. Wood Cobbers 45: Those meat works at Darwin, f’instance [...] dismantled and done for.
1944		J. Cary Horse’s Mouth (1948) 21: I’m done for. I’ll have to cut my throat after all.
1954		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?
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 121: I was too done-for to respond.
2001		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.

1834		N. Ames ‘Old Cuff’ An Old Sailor’s Yarns 67: Old Cuff is done for [...] He has broke his back-bone short off.
1837		R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods III 177: What’s to become of the crittur, when I’m done for?
1846		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.
1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. V 50: I’m done for [...] but I tried my best to save you!
1861		(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.
1864		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.
1888		‘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.
1889		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’.
1899		Boy’s Own Paper 25 Mar. 411: I fear he’s done for [...] What a fatality!
1894		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?
1921		Dos Passos Three Soldiers 189: ‘Here’s an officer done for,’ said the captain, who walked ahead.
1934		H. Roth Call It Sleep (1977) 422: Looks like he’s done fer, butchuh can’t tell.
1951		(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.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 177: We’re dead, done for, Arky.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 272: If Bill was really taken in Beirut, he was done for.
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 97: If the time ran out, the girl was done for.
1984		Flame : a Life on the Game 132: I was gagging, and I knew I was done for unless I did something brutal.