deed

An action or act; something that is done.

Noun

  1. An action or act; something that is done.
    • One small deed can have one strong effect or more.
    • And Joseph said to them, What deed is this which ye have done? - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 44:15:
  2. A brave or noteworthy action; a feat or exploit.
    • They should accomplish both a knightly deed, - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4:
    • whose deeds some nobler poem shall adorn - 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):
  3. Action or fact, as opposed to rhetoric or deliberation.
    • I have fulfilled my promise in word and in deed.
  4. A legal instrument that is executed under seal or before a witness; sometimes required for certain legal activities, such as the transfer of certain kinds of property.

    1. (by extension, real estate) The legal title to real estate; ownership.

      • I inherited the deed to the house.

Origin

From Middle English dede, from Old English dēd, dǣd (“deed, act”), from Proto-West Germanic *dādi, from Proto-Germanic *dēdiz (“deed”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tis (“deed, action”). Analyzable through Proto-Germanic as do + -th. Doublet of thesis. The real estate sense derives from the fact that property deeds are traditionally used to demonstrate proof of ownership of a legal title in common law jurisdictions, such as England & Wales and most of the United States. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian died, Dutch daad (“deed, act”), German Low German Daad, German Tat (“deed, action”), Swedish, Norwegian and Danish dåd (“act, action”). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek θέσις (thésis, “setting, arrangement”).

Forms

deeds

Synonyms

act action

Derived

a good deed is its own reward almsdeed bond for deed counterdeed deeder deedful deedholder deedholding deedless deedly deed of appointment deed of assumption deed of retirement deed of trust deed poll deedwork deedworthy deedy do the deed estoppel by deed fordede indeed in very deed misdeed

Verb

  1. To transfer real property by deed.
    • He deeded over the mineral rights to some fellas from Denver.

Forms

deeds deeding deeded

Derived

deedable undeeded