do for v.
1. to beat up, to injure, to murder.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Amelia II 70: He said something, too, about my master [...] he said he would do for him, I am sure he said that; and other wicked, bad words, too. | |
| Proceedings Old Bailey 20 Apr. 167/1: When they came into my room to me, they came in a tumultuous manner, and said, ‘I’ll do for you,’ and Mrs. Hatchet said, ‘I’ll have you torn to pieces.’. | |
| Proc. Old Bailey 8 Dec. 3/1: He said then, that he would do for her, and give her her guts for garters. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | N.-Y. Eve. Post 29 July 2/4: Jaco [...] attacked Jim with a ‘brick bat,’ and some sharp pointed instrument, and ‘did for him’ in real earnest. | |
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 3 Oct. 6/3: The Magistrate asked Mr Mason what he was to understand by‘doing for him’. | |
| Snarleyyow III (Calcutta edn) 203: By gum, he’s a-done for me at last. Well, I don’t care, I can die but once, that’s sartin sure; and he’ll go to the devil, that’s sartin sure. | |
| Wkly Rake (NY) 5 Nov. n.p.: ‘Oh, yer vants a young woman to take care of yer, and do for yer,’ said a mountain of flesh [...] ‘Yes, my good woman, and I have not the least doubt but you would do for me in the shortest space of time’. | |
| Pendennis II 218: I told you how I did for the overseer before I took leave. | |
| Wild Boys of London I 152/1: If he did do for the Welcher, it was a haxident; a cove can’t alwis regulate the pressure when the hug’s on. | |
| Bushrangers 202: ‘You did kill him!’ thundered Murden [...] ‘Yez, I done for him,’ confessed the wretch. | |
| Sketches of the Cattle Trade 141: Some [...] are generally ‘done for’ in a thorough manner, or wounded so as to be miserable cripples for life. | |
| Illus. Police News 14 July 2/5: The burglar swearing at her terribly, and threatening to ‘do for’ her if she did not let him go. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Dundee Courier (Scot.) 25 Mar, 7/6: You’d better slope, Larey; you’ve done for her this time. | |
| Recoll. Sea-Wanderer 114: The mate was among us with a belaying-pin, seeming bent on murder, and we had to do for him. | |
 | ‘Man from Ironbark’ in Bulletin 17 Dec. n.p.: You've done for me! you dog, I'm beat! one hit before I go! | |
| [perf. George Robey] ‘A B ab’ 🎵 Two thieves said they'd give him the knock, said they, 'We'll do him for his clock.' / [...] / and how d'ye think they did the job, / They gave him one in the A B, ab - D O, do - M E N - ab-do-men. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | ‘Rats’ in Roderick (1972) 57: Come on, chaps, come on, or he’ll do for her! | |
| Truth (Brisbane) 12 Apr. 6/6: After using half a dictionary of cuss words of a vile nature she said, ‘I’ll do for you in a fortnight; I’ll have your life, you old blank’. | |
| Marvel 22 Oct. 18: ‘I’ll do for the pair of yer!’ he snarled. | |
| Varmint 14: I drew a knife on him [...] I’d ’a’ done for him, too, the coward, if they hadn’t hauled me off. | |
| Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 179: He had threatened to ‘do’ for Eddie Guerin when he got out. | |
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Creole Chips 9: Call me a ugly jumbie, eh? Awright! Wait good! Me gwine do fo’ you. You wait! Me gwine do fo’ you! | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Best of Myles (1968) 335: I will do for him, gorblimey, if I have to swing for it! | |
| Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: Do for him! | |
| (con. 1954) Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun I i: Let’s do for him, the kind-hearted gobshite. | |
| Gumshoe (1998) 143: Whatever she’d given him was enough to do for a dinosaur. | |
| After Hours 42: He [...] did for the bull with one swordthrust. | |
| GBH 163: ‘[I]t supports my argument [...] That Ray did for her himself’. | |
| In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 56: You did for that son of a bitch, didn’t you? | |
| Indep. Mag. 16 Oct. 36: She then did for little Hogg – probably with a cushion [...] and dumped her cargo on a stretch of waste ground. | |
| ‘Fjord of Killary’ in New Yorker 24 Jan. 🌐 ‘[T]hat possessed fuckin’ she-devil above in the house will put me in the ground [...] She’ll fuckin’ do for me!’. | |
| Scrublands [ebook] ‘He was fucking rabid. Said the coppers had told him Swift was a ped. Said if he’d laid a hand on me he’d do for him’. |
2. to ruin, to destroy, to harm.
| Trial of Elizabeth Canning in Howell State Trials (1816) 573: I shook hands with mother Wells, and told her she had done for herself. | |
| ‘The Damn’d Honest Fellow’ in Songs Comic and Satyrical 127: If he won’t do for me when I send in my name, / Why, damme then, I’ll do for him. | |
| Proceedings Old Bailey 19 July 949/2: I am not able to stand against you, you have pretty well done for me already. | |
| Sense and Sensibility (1970) 262: Poor Edward! – he has done for himself completely – shut himself out for ever from all decent society! | |
| Pelham III 318: ‘You have done for him, and for us now,’ said I. | |
| Five Years’ Penal Servitude 233: He’s done for me; he’s done for me; send at once for Doctor Howell. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 29 Jan. 195/3: Unfortunately the latter did for his early acquired reputation by a subsequent murder of ‘Enoch Arden’s Dream’. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 252: Massa, you have done for this poor nigger. | |
| Signor Lippo 80: But the gang done for me. | |
| Straight Goer (1915) 18: ‘I’ve been on a sugar plantation in Fiji — it nearly did for me’. | |
| ‘Grace’ Dubliners (1956) 152: Such a sight! He’ll do for himself one day and that’s the holy alls of it. He’s been drinking since Friday. | |
| Ulysses 604: That bitch, that English whore, did for him. | |
| Bride of Gospel Place 114: Buck: I’ll do for you, you devil! [...] You’ve settled both of us. | |
| Georgie May 103: Hot jiggety, if Doped did fo’ Mike they’ll shuah put youah behind in the jug. | |
| Lonely Londoners 23: London will do for you before long. | |
| Down and Out 133: They’ve done for my brother [...] That last hiding finished him, he’s a fucking vegetable. | |
| Indep. Rev. 16 Oct. 4: They’ve done for Livingstone today. / They’ve stitched him up. | |
| Get Your Cock Out 16: It was large amounts of LSD and repeated viewings of Apocalypse Now that had done for him. |
3. to wear out completely.
| She Stoops to Conquer Act II: This pretty smooth dialogue has done for me. | |
| They Drive by Night 92: A London bloke was done for in the bloody country. Blimey. It wasn’t half a turn-out. | |
| Awaydays 99: ‘I’m fucked, lar,’ I say to Danny Allen. It’s not a total spoof either. I’ve noticed lately that I get out of breath far too easily. The hill has done for me. |
4. to cheat, to defraud.
| Satirist (London) 22 July 239/2: [T]he Military Club i [...] where sharps are invited to bring flats, who will be taken in and done for, and no questions asked. | |
| Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 11 Mar. 2/2: Those who made fools of themselves in ‘Auld Reekie’ by placing confidence in his ‘just send me out’ your sons and daughters to N.S.W. and I’ll do for them well — sure enough he has done for many. | |
| G’hals of N.Y. 140: He was in the act of being very handsomely taken in and done for by one of the most accomplished modern Jeremy Diddlers. | |
| [Arthur Pember] Mysteries and Miseries 280: [T]hat medium was a first-class fraud [...] these six innocents had been thoroughly taken in and effectually done for. |
5. to provide with a service, e.g. sex.
| Wkly Rake (NY) 13 Aug. n.p.: the rake wants to know[W]hen Lucy said ‘he could be taken in and done for’ on moderate terms? | |
| Broadway Belle (NY) 12 Mar. n.p.: Clara Hastings has got a house in North Margin street, where countrymen are ‘done for’ at short notice. |
6. see do v.1 (2a)