do away with
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.53 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "She tried to do away with the argument by changing the topic."
- "The criminals tried to do away with the evidence before the police arrived."
- "She’s working hard to do away with negative thinking."
- "For no nearness in space, no closeness of relations, no daily intimacy, can do away with the inexorable laws which give the adept his seclusion."
- "Using electricity as motive power for railroads will do away with fuel trains, tenders, coal handling, water, and all that."
- "Centralised traffic control does away with intermediate operators over long stretches of line."
Etymology
Very likely a continuation of Old English onweġ dōn (“to get rid of”, literally “to do away”, from onweġ (“away”) and dōn (“to do”, also “to make, cause, put”)), via a Middle English *awey don, *oway don, *don awey, and other forms. The preposition with was probably also already in use from the outset, given how its original meaning is “against” (still seen in e.g. argue with, withstand and have a fight with). The original meaning of the phrase was therefore on the lines of “to put away against (someone or something)” or “to make/cause (s.o./sth. to go) away”, which are long-obsolete senses of do.
Origin
- Source language: Old English
Word Breakdown
- Root: onweġ dōn