devoir

(dəv-wär', dĕv'wär')
n.

1. An act or expression of respect or courtesy; civility. Often used in the plural: pay one's devoirs.
2. Duty or responsibility.

[Middle English, duty, from Old French, from devoir, to owe, from Latin dēbēre.]

(duh-VWAR)

noun
1. Duty; responsibility.
2. An act of respect or courtesy.

Etymology
From Middle English devoir (duty), from Old French, from Latin debere (to owe). Ultimately from Indo-European root ghebh- (to give or receive) that is also the forefather of such words as give, have, endeavor, handle, able, and duty

Usage
"There are no new revelations in these books but the authors have done their devoir." — Alice Thomas Ellis; I Don't Know How They Did It; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Oct 19, 2002.

"The famous dictum attributed to P.T. Barnum, that there's a sucker born every minute, has often been validated, but five of them on the same City Council? As an experience-hardened, moderately cynical politician, I am forced by this embarrassing piece of colossal bumbling to pay my devoir to Friedrich von Schiller's lament: 'Against stupidity, the very gods themselves contend in vain.'" — Public Pulse; Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska); Sep 9, 2001.

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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: formal expression of respect

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devoir