Meaning of duty In English

• 0 something that you have to do because it is part of your job, or something that you feel is the right thing to do:

  • The duty of the agency is to act in the best interests of the child.

  • [ + to infinitive ] I felt it was my duty to tell them the truth.

  • You have a duty to yourself to take a break once in a while.

  • He only went to see her out of duty (= because he thought he should).

  • You should report for duty (= arrive at work) at 8 a.m. on Monday.

  • What time are you off/on duty (= when do you finish/start work) tomorrow?

  • We are duty bound to justify how we spend our funds.

• 1 a tax paid to the government, especially on things that you bring into a country:

  • There's a high duty on alcohol.

• 2 a responsibility to do something because it is legally or morally right to do it:

  • Every lawyer has a strong sense of duty and responsibility.

  • a duty to do sth They have a duty to ensure customers receive sound advice.

  • be sb's duty It is your duty to announce any conflict of interest.

  • do your duty I felt that I had done my duty in reporting the incident to the police.

  • It was alleged that the company had failed in its duty to advise customers of the technical aspects of the paint system.

• 3 something that you have to do because it is part of your job:

  • His duties included photographing engineering projects such as bridges and airfields.

  • perform/undertake/do duties People employed under similar conditions should not be paid less than others performing similar duties.

  • teaching/cleaning/administrative duties

• 4 one of the periods of time that a working day is divided into during which someone works:

  • night/day duty Daniels volunteered for night duty so he could take classes at the University of Arizona.

• 5 a tax paid on goods that are bought or imported:

  • duty on sth He said that duty on a bottle of wine in France is equivalent to 2p compared with £1.16 here.

  • impose/raise/increase duty The duty on house purchases of £250,000 or more was increased to 2.5%.

  • a cut/rise/increase in duty

  • fuel/tobacco/petrol duty

• 6 not working, and not responsible for dealing with things that happen at work:

  • He summoned his entire unit to a crisis meeting, even though many were off duty.

  • When your Estate Manager goes off duty, the alarm system will be monitored by a remote service.

• 7 working, and responsible for dealing with things that happen at work:

  • During office hours there is always a planning officer on duty who deals with enquiries.

  • The night shift goes on duty at 10 pm.

• 8 used to describe the person who is on duty at a particular time:

  • duty engineer/manager/solicitor