duteous

English

WOTD – 17 June 2009

Etymology

Irregular combination of duty +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdjuː.ti.əs/, (yod-coalescence) /ˈdʒuː.ti.əs/, (dated) /ˈdjuː.tʃəs/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdu.ti.əs/
• Rhymes: -uːtiəs

Adjective

duteous (comparative more duteous, superlative most duteous)

1. (archaic) dutiful

   a duteous son

   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 188:

     It will be evident, that whatever had been the vexation experienced on this occasion by Lady Anne, she had taken care to give her duteous and unoffending daughters much more than she had received, and which only arose from her own conduct.

2. (archaic) Obsequious; submissively obedient.
   • c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi]:

     I know thee well. A ſeruiceable Villaine,
     As duteous to the vices of thy Miſtris,
     As badneſſe would deſire.

   • 1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Heart of the Night, lines 10–14:

     O Lord, the awful Lord of will! though late,
     Even yet renew this soul with duteous breath:
     That when the peace is garnered in from strife,
     The work retrieved, the will regenerate,
     This soul may see thy face, O Lord of death!

Related terms

• duteously
• duty
• unduteous

Translations

obsequious; submissively obedient

• Armenian: հլու (hy) (hlu), հնազանդ (hy) (hnazand), պարտաճանաչ (hy) (partačanačʻ)
• Bulgarian: покорен (bg) (pokoren), послушен (bg) (poslušen)
• Czech: poslušný (cs), uctivý (cs), oddaný (cs)
• Russian: послу́шный/поко́рный до́лгу (poslúšnyj/pokórnyj dólgu), исполни́тельный (ru) (ispolnítelʹnyj)
• Swedish: underdånig (sv), plikttrogen (sv)

References

• The Oxford English Dictionary