DUTY

Definitions

1. 1. That which is due; payment. [Obs. as signifying a material thing.] When thou receivest money for thy labor or ware, thou receivest thy duty. Tyndale.
2. 2. That which a person is bound by moral obligation to do, or refrain from doing; that which one ought to do; service morally obligatory. Forgetting his duty toward God, his sovereign lord, and his country. Hallam.
3. 3. Hence, any assigned service or business; as, the duties of a policeman, or a soldier; to be on duty. With records sweet of duties done. Keble. To employ him on the hardest and most imperative duty. Hallam. Duty is a graver term than obligation. A duty hardly exists to do trivial things; but there may be an obligation to do them. C. J. Smith.
4. 4. Specifically, obedience or submission due to parents and superiors. Shak.
5. 5. Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage. "My duty to you." Shak.
6. 6. The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States).
7. 7. Tax, toll, impost, or customs; excise; any sum of money required by government to be paid on the importation, exportation, or consumption of goods.