▪ I. deed
(diːd)
Forms: 1 W. Sax. dǽd, Anglian déd; 2–3 dæd, 2–5 ded, 2–6 dede, (3 dead, dade, 4–5 dide, 4–6 deid(e, 5 deyd(e), 5–7 deede, (6 deade), 5– deed.
[OE. dǽd, déd = OFris. déde, OSax. dâd (MDu. daet (dâde), Du. daad), OHG., MHG. tât (Ger. that, tat), ON. dáð (Sw. dåd, Da. daad), Goth. dêds:—OTeut. *dæ̂di-z:—*dhēˈtis, f. verb root ˌdhēdhō, OTeut. ˌdæ̂dô: see do v. The second d from original t, is in accordance with Verner's Law: cf. dead.
The early ME. was dede, from the OE. acc. dǽde, déde. The OE. pl. dǽda, déda, regularly became dede in 12–13th c. But this was identical with the sing., whence, for distinction, new plurals came into use after other OE. types, viz. deden in the south, dedes in the midl. and north; the former was still used c 1320 (Castel of Loue), but, as in other words, the -s form (found c 1200 in Ormulum and Trin. Coll. Hom.) eventually prevailed.]
1. That which is done, acted, or performed by an intelligent or responsible agent; an act.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter lxiii. 10 [lxiv. 9] And ondreord oᵹhwelc mon, & seᵹdun werc godes, & dede his onᵹetun. 971 Blickl. Hom. 23 We sceolon..þæt ondᵹit mid gédum dædum ᵹefyllan. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137 §5 Þe land was al fordon mid suilce dædes. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 9 Hit is riht þat we forleten and forsaken nihtliche deden. Ibid. 15 To done þe six dede. Ibid. 131 Godes paðes ben ure gode dedes. c 1205 Lay. 7024 His deden [c 1175 deades] weoren for-cuðe. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2983 And quane ðe king wurð war ðis dead. a 1300 Cursor M. 1085 (Cott.) Quen caym had don þat dreri d[e]ide [v.r. dede], Til his fader hamward he ȝeide. c 1320 Cast. Love 938 Bi-hold now..his deden hou heo beoþ diht. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2498 Our gud dedis pur gud er noght. 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 278 He had done mony thankfull deid. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 115 Dede, or werke, factum. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 2 §4 The seid Warrant is not the dede of hym that is named to be the maker of the seid Warrant. 1570 Sc. Satir. Poems Reform. xviii. 5 O cursit hour! O deid of fellonie! 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 216 They that haue done this Deede, are honourable. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 256 And one bad act with many deeds well done Mayst cover. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend ix. (1887) 37 What are noble deeds but noble truths realized? 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 52 Their deeds did not agree with their words. |
b. An act of bravery, skill, etc.; a feat; esp. in deed of arms, and the like.
| Beowulf 5668 (Th.) Þeah ðe he dæda ᵹehwæs dyrstiᵹ wære. 1340 Ayenb. 163 By playtinge me ne proueþ naȝt þet he by guod knyȝt ac be moche dede of armes. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 18 The dedys Of stalwart folk that lywyt ar. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 262 Desiryng nothing so much as to have deedes of Armes. 1570 Sc. Satir. Poems Reform. x. 60 Ȝit we his hart with Martiall deidis dotit. 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. clxxvi, Thousands..Whose deeds some nobler poem shall adorn. 1869 Tennyson Coming of Arthur 46 And Arthur yet had done no deed of arms. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 357 Deeds of such high glory Scamander's river avoucheth. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 609 Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your State. |
† c. Deeds of the Apostles: the Acts of the Apostles. Obs.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 195 Peter saiþ in dedis of apostlis..þat to him neiþer was gold ne siluer. 1382 ― Acts (title), Heere begynnen the Apostles Dedes. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (1888) 37 In ye xx c. of the dedis of the Apostlis. |
2. (without a or pl.) Action generally; doing, performance. (Often contrasted with word.)
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xix. (Z.) 122 Deponentia verba significant actvm þa alecgendlican word ᵹetacnjað dæde. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 187 Þe man þe nis stedefast ne on dade ne on speche ne on þonke. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 501 Ower dede ne may be no wors, than ower word is. a 1300 Cursor M. 3402 (Cott.) His suns dughti ware o dede. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶282 Þanne wol I sle him with my hond in dede of synne. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 1 At the begynnyng of oure dede Make we heuen & erth. c 1500 Melusine 371 In som cas the good wylle of a man is accepted for the dede. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 549 To be both will and deed created free. 1871 Ruskin Fors Clav. I. ii. 5 The strength of Hercules is for deed not misdeed. |
b. collect. Doings; ado, to-do. dial.
| 1788 W. Marshall E. Yorks. Gloss., Deed, doings; whent deed, great to-do. 1828 Craven Dial., Deed, doings. ‘There's sad deed, I'll uphodto.’ 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., ‘Here's bonny deed!’ great to do..‘Great deed about nought’, large stir about trifles. 1867 Waugh Home Life Factory Folk xvi. 145 (Lanc. Dial.) ‘Aw consider we'n had as hard deed as anybody livin.’ |
† 3. Thing to be done, work (in contemplation); the task or duty of any time or person. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 354 On to þrenge þer-þurȝe [a city] watz þre dayes dede. c 1400 Destr. Troy 274 Sone he dressit to his dede & no dyn made, And made vp a mekyll ship. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 57 To dyke and delf, bere and draw, and to do all vnhonest deyde. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 812 You shall..set the poor distressed City of Syracusa again on foot, which is your deed. |
4. Law. An instrument in writing (which for this purpose includes printing or other legible representation of words on parchment or paper), purporting to effect some legal disposition, and sealed and delivered by the disposing party or parties.
Signature to a deed is not generally required by English law, but is practically universal; and in most jurisdictions outside England where English law or legal forms prevail, signature has been substituted for or made equivalent to sealing. Delivery (q.v.) is now a moribund formality. Contracts of most kinds, as well as dispositions of property inter vivos, may be made by deed, and in common practice are often so made.
| c 1300 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 69 Edward..suore..to me..his heyre suld I be. Þerof he mad me skrite..& for to sikere his dede, set þer to his seale. Ibid. 259 Bituex him & þe was mad a priue dede..Forto feffe him ageyn in þat tenement. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 81 In þe Date of þe deuel þe Deede was a-selet, Be siht of sir Symoni and Notaries signes. 1435 Nottingham Rec. II. 358 For ye exchaunge of Heyberd Stener be a ded undder ye seel of his armes. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. v. 35 And write a deed of gift with thine own blood. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. ii. 1 Enquire the Iewes house out, giue him this deed, And let him signe it. 1613 Bury Wills (Camd. Soc.) 162 As I and the said Edmond longe agoe did give vnto her by a jointe deede of guift. 1642 Perkins Prof. Bk. ii. §130. 58 A writing cannot be a deed if it be not sealed. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 295 A deed is a writing sealed and delivered by the parties..it is called a deed..because it is the most solemn and authentic act that a man can possibly perform, with relation to the disposal of his property. 1844 Williams Real Prop. (1877) 148 The sealing and delivery of a deed are termed the execution of it. 1893 Sir J. W. Chitty in Law Times' Rep. LXVIII. 430/1 The statute..requires a deed in cases where formerly a mere writing would have sufficed. |
5. Phrases. † a. with the deed: in the act. Obs.
| c 1450 Erle Tolous 522 Of myrthe schalt thou not mys; Thou schalt take us wyth the dede. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. ii, And it be sothe as ye saye I wold he were taken with the dede. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. Turkie iv. xxxiii. 156 The Adulterer being found with the deed. |
b. in deed: in action, in actual practice.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 13830 (Trin.) Þe lif þat he ledeþ in dede Hit is aȝeyn oure lede. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2138 Ariadne, And every poynt was performed in dede. c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. 2 (Harl. MS.), I am redy to fulfille alle in dede þat þou wolt sey vnto me. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 29, I trust that not onely all men will commende justice in worde, but also will live justly in deede. 1613 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 202 Offering to beat one, though he doe not beat one in deed. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. vii. 130 Graven images..set up in deed or in word. |
c. in deed, in very deed, † of very deed (Sc.): in fact, in effect, in reality, in truth: hence indeed.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 659 But wel I woot he lyed right in dede. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. vi. 18 For thinkest thou that God in very dede dwelleth amonge men vpon earth? 1549 Compl. Scot. xv. 123 Thai ar my mortal enemes of verray deid. 1581 W. Fulke in Confer. iii. (1584) S iij, They eate not the body of Christ in deede. 1615 Bedwell Moham. Imp. iii. §97 They are in very deed holy bookes. 1862 Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. App. iii. 458 Making all principles be treated in very deed as the counters wherewith the game of faction was to be played. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xiv. 273 The chiefs became the chiefs in deed as well as in name. |
6. Comb., as † deed-doer, † deed-doing; deed-achieving, deed-worthy adjs.; deed-box, a box, usually of tin-plate, for keeping deeds or other documents in; deed-offering, Coverdale's word in some instances for the ‘peace-offering’ of the 1611 version. Also deed-bote, deed poll.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 190 By *deed-atchieuing Honor newly nam'd. |
| 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxxi, Taking with him the tin-box (it was what they called a *deed-box). 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law xiv. 85 It is advisable to keep your own securities in your own deed-box at home. |
| 1548 Hall Chron. 20 b, Thei would be lokers on and no *dede doers. 1663 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1792) I. 272 (Jam.) But the deed doer was fled. |
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 70 Þe *dede doynge is proff of loue, as gregory seiþ. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 430 One of his horse-keepers..taking him at the deed doing..bestowed so many blowes on him..that he left him half dead. |
| 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. vi. 17 And Dauid offred burnt offerynges and *deed offerynges before ye Lorde. |
| 1865 J. Grote Treat. Moral Ideas viii. (1876) 103 *Deedworthy conduct, or the faciendum. |
▪ II. deed, v. U.S.
(diːd)
[f. deed n.]
trans. To convey or transfer by deed. Also fig.
| 1816 J. Pickering Vocabulary 76 To deed..We sometimes hear this word used colloquially; but rarely, except by illiterate people... None of our writers would employ it. 1828 Webster Deed, to convey or transfer by deed; a popular use of the word in America; as, he deeded all his estate to his eldest son. 1865 Morn. Star Sept., A..complete farm..in Connecticut has been deeded over to his wife. 1890 Century Mag. Jan. 475/1 The act of 1864, deeding to that state the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove. |
▪ III. deed, adv.
In 6 dede.
Aphetic form of i'deed, indeed; now chiefly Sc.
| 1547 Coverdale Old Faith Prol. A vij a, Let vs be true scolers of the same; and dede, let vs euen entre in to the nature and kynde therof. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxvi, ‘'Deed, sir, they hae various opinions.’ 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair 235 ‘'Deed and she will’, said O'Dowd. 1868 Ramsay Remin. 183 ‘Deed’, said the laird..‘I wad ha' wondered if ye had.’ |
▪ IV. deed, -e
obs. forms of dead.