Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Something that is carried out; an act or action.
  • noun A usually praiseworthy act; a feat or exploit.
  • noun Action or performance in general.
  • noun A signed, sealed, and delivered instrument.
  • noun An instrument conveying an interest in real property.
  • transitive verb To transfer by means of a deed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That which is done, acted, performed, or accomplished; a doing; an act: a word of extensive application, including whatever is done, good or bad, great or small.
  • noun Power of action; agency; performance.
  • noun In law, a writing on parchment or paper, authenticated by the seal of the person whose mind it purports to declare; more specifically, such a writing made for the purpose of conveying real estate. See indenture, and deed poll, below.
  • To convey or transfer by deed: as, he deeded all his estate to his eldest son.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb Colloq. U. S. To convey or transfer by deed.
  • adjective obsolete Dead.
  • noun That which is done or effected by a responsible agent; an act; an action; a thing done; -- a word of extensive application, including, whatever is done, good or bad, great or small.
  • noun Illustrious act; achievement; exploit.
  • noun obsolete Power of action; agency; efficiency.
  • noun Fact; reality; -- whence we have indeed.
  • noun (Law) A sealed instrument in writing, on paper or parchment, duly executed and delivered, containing some transfer, bargain, or contract.
  • noun a printed form containing the customary legal phraseology, with blank spaces for writing in names, dates, boundaries, etc.
  • noun obsolete Performance; -- followed by of.
  • noun in fact; in truth; verily. See Indeed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An action or act; something that is done.
  • noun A brave or noteworthy action; a feat or exploit.
  • noun Action or fact, as opposed to rhetoric or deliberation.
  • noun law A legal contract showing bond.
  • verb informal To transfer real property by deed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a legal document signed and sealed and delivered to effect a transfer of property and to show the legal right to possess it
  • noun something that people do or cause to happen

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English dede, from Old English dǣd; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English dede, from Old English dēd, (West Saxon) dǣd ("deed, act"), from Proto-Germanic *dēdiz (“deed”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰēti- (“deed, action”), *dʰéh₁tis. Cognate with West Frisian died, Dutch daad ("deed, act"), Low German Daat, German Tat ("deed, action"), Swedish and Danish dåd ("act, action"). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek θέσις (thesis, "setting, arrangement"). Related to do.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Do Good's deeds live on? No, Evil's deeds do, O God.

    October 18, 2008

  • The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,

    Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,

    Our breasts are heaving, our eyes are a-gleam,

    Our arms are waving, our lips are apart;

    And if any gaze on our rushing band,

    We come between him and the deed of his hand,

    We come between him and the hope of his heart.

    - W.B. Yeats, 'The Hosting of the Sidhe'.

    September 18, 2009