Dictionary

do away with en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

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.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, informal, transitive) To abolish; to put an end to; to eliminate.
   • Using electricity as motive power for railroads will do away with fuel trains, tenders, coal handling, water, and all that. 1922, Victor Appleton, chapter 7, in Tom Swift And His Electric Locomotive:
   • She tried to do away with the argument by changing the topic.
   • 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. 1887, Mabel Collins, The Illuminated Way: A Guide to Newophytes, 1903 ed., Yogi publications, New Jersey, p. 35
   • The criminals tried to do away with the evidence before the police arrived.
   • Centralised traffic control does away with intermediate operators over long stretches of line. 1950 May, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 300:
   • In most countries, homework has come to be an integral part of the schooling system. So much so that parents are suspicious when schools do away with homework. 2008 September 30, “Editorial: British schools' move towards scrapping homework is a progressive idea”, in Times of India:
   • She’s working hard to do away with negative thinking.
2. (euphemistic, idiomatic, informal, transitive) To have someone killed.
   • […]unless we can begin to understand that the vast majority of those who do away with themselves—and of those who attempt to do so—do not do it because of any frailty, and rarely out of impulse, but because they are in the grip of an illness that causes almost unimaginable pain. 1988 December 19, William Styron, “Why Primo Levi Need Not Have Died”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • He plotted to do away with his rival.

Forms

Relateds

fordo · get rid of

Synonyms

expunge

Translations (37)

pl pozbywać się (abolish; put an end to) · cmn 廢止 /废止 (abolish; put an end to) · fi tehdä loppu (abolish; put an end to) · cmn 化解 (abolish; put an end to) · el βγάζω από τη μέση (have someone killed) · fi tapattaa (have someone killed) · ru прико́нчить (have someone killed) · es deshacerse de (abolish; put an end to) · cmn 暗殺 /暗杀 (have someone killed) · ca desfer-se (abolish; put an end to) · cy gwneud i ffwrdd (â) (abolish; put an end to) · fr en finir (avec) (abolish; put an end to) · cmn 殺害 /杀害 (have someone killed) · cmn 銷毀 /销毁 (abolish; put an end to) · pt acabar (abolish; put an end to) · it fare fuori (have someone killed) · cmn 謀殺 /谋杀 (have someone killed) · fa منسوخ کردن (abolish; put an end to) · cmn 克服 (abolish; put an end to) · de abschaffen (abolish; put an end to) · cmn 廢除 /废除 (abolish; put an end to) · fi lopettaa (abolish; put an end to) · pl pozbyć się (have someone killed) · ja 止める (abolish; put an end to) · fi päästä eroon (abolish; put an end to) · la interimō (abolish; put an end to) · es desechar (abolish; put an end to) · da rydde af vejen (have someone killed) · cmn 終止 /终止 (abolish; put an end to) · pl pozbyć się (abolish; put an end to) · grc ἀποποιέω (have someone killed) · cmn 除掉 (have someone killed) · pl pozbywać się (have someone killed) · cmn 消除 (abolish; put an end to) · el σκοτώνω (have someone killed) · el καταργώ (abolish; put an end to) · hu eltesz láb alól (have someone killed)