deed

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.

• IPA^(key): /diːd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːd

deed (plural deeds)

1. An action or act; something that is done.

   One small deed can have one stour effect or more.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 44:15:

     And Joseph said to them, What deed is this which ye have done?

2. A brave or noteworthy action; a feat or exploit.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4:

     They should accomplish both a knightly deed,

   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     whose deeds some nobler poem shall adorn

3. Action or fact, as opposed to rhetoric or deliberation.

   I have fulfilled my promise in word and in deed.

4. (law) 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.

• (action): act, action; see also Thesaurus:action

deed (third-person singular simple present deeds, present participle deeding, simple past and past participle deeded)

1. (real estate, informal) To transfer real property by deed.

   He deeded over the mineral rights to some fellas from Denver.

• deedable
• undeeded

• Dede, dede

• IPA^(key): /deːt/

• Audio

  (file)

deed

1. singular past indicative of doen

• dede

• ded

From Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz.

• IPA^(key): /dɛːd/

deed

1. dead (no longer alive)
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Joon 5:21, page 47r, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     foꝛ as þe fadir reiſiþ deed men ⁊ quykeneþ .· ſo þe ſone quykeneþ whom he wole

     Just like the father raises the dead and revives them, the son revives who he wants.

2. inert, inactive.
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, James 2:28, page 110r, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     foꝛ as þe bodi wiþout þe ſpirit is deed .· ſo alſo feiþ wiþout werkis is deed

     Just like the body without a soul is dead, faith without works is dead as well.

• dedly

• English: dead
• Geordie English: deed
• Scots: dede, deid, deed
• Yola: deed

• “dēd, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

deed

1. past participle of dee
2. (South Scots) past participle of dei

deed

1. indeed

From Middle English deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud.

• IPA^(key): /diːd/

deed

1. dead[1]
   • 1927, “LAMENT OF A WIDOW”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 130, lines 4[2]:

     Ochone! Jone, thee yart deed.

     Ochone, John, you are dead.

• dee