due

views updated May 14 2018

due / d(y)oō/ • adj. 1. expected at or planned for at a certain time: the baby's due in August | he is due back soon | talks are due to adjourn tomorrow. ∎  (of a payment) required at a certain time: the May installment was due. ∎  (of a person) having reached a point where the thing mentioned is required or owed: she was due for a raise| you're more than due a vacation. ∎  (of a thing) required or owed as a legal or moral obligation: he was only taking back what was due to him | you must pay any income tax due.2. of the proper quality or extent; adequate: driving without due care and attention.• n. 1. (one's due) a person's right; what is owed to someone: he attracts more criticism than is his due.2. (dues) an obligatory payment; a fee: he had paid trade union dues for years.• adv. (with reference to a point of the compass) exactly; directly: we'll head due south again on the same road.PHRASES: due to1. caused by or ascribable to: unemployment due to automation will grow steadily.2. because of; owing to: he had to withdraw due to a knee injury. See usage below.give someone their due be fair to someone: to give him his due, he was a generous employer.in due course at the appropriate time: Reynolds will respond in due course to the letter.pay one's dues fulfill one's obligations: he had paid his dues to society for his previous convictions. ∎  experience difficulties before achieving success: this drummer has paid his dues with the best.ORIGIN: Middle English (in the sense ‘payable’): from Old French deu ‘owed,’ based on Latin debitus ‘owed,’ from debere ‘owe’ .

Due

views updated Jun 27 2018

DUE

Just; proper; regular; lawful; sufficient; reasonable, as in the phrases due care, due process of law, due notice.

Owing; payable; justly owed. That which one contracts to pay or perform to another; that which law or justice requires to be paid or done. Owed, or owing, as distinguished from payable. A debt is often said to be due from a person where he or she is the party owing it, or primarily bound to pay, whether the time for payment has or has not arrived. The same thing is true of the phrase due and owing.

The term due is essentially contextual in nature and has various legal applications, all of which involve the sufficiency or reasonableness of an action or obligation.

Due care is the use of the requisite amount of caution needed in a particular set of circumstances based upon what a reasonably prudent person would do under similar circumstances. Exercising due care while driving might mean obeying traffic regulations.

Due consideration is the proper weight or significance given to a matter or a factor as circumstances mandate. It may also have application in sufficiency of consideration in the law of contracts.

due

views updated Jun 08 2018

due owing XIII; proper, suitable XIV; that is to be ascribed to XVII. — OF. deü (mod. , fem. due) :- Rom. *dēbūtus, for L. dēbitus, pp. of dēbēre (F. devoir) owe.
Also adv. †duly; directly, straight XVI. So due sb. XV. — OF. (see above), sb. use of pp. of devoir. Hence duly adv. XIV.

due

views updated May 29 2018

due (It.). Two.
1. a due, either (a) div. between 2 instr. or vv., or (b) 2 instr. or vv. to join in playing the same line.

2. due corde. Two strings, i.e. in vn. mus., etc., divide the passage over 2 str.