do someone proud

verb

To cause someone to feel pride, admiration, or satisfaction.

Meanings

verbdo someone proud (third-person singular simple present does someone proud, present participle doing someone proud, simple past did someone proud, past participle done someone proud)

present singular third person does someone proud · participle present doing someone proud · past did someone proud · participle past done someone proud

  1. informaltransitiveTo cause someone to feel pride, admiration, or satisfaction.

    I was absolutely delighted with the way we competed and the players did me proud.

    2008 May 13, “Calderwood praises character”, in www.sportinglife.com, UK, retrieved 18 Jun 2008
    2 more examples

    He very politely assured her that she would ‘do him proud’, whenever she might please to call at Hook Court.

    1867, Anthony Trollope, chapter 75, in The Last Chronicle of Barset

    "Well, honest to God, it does me proud to meet you," he blurted out. "Shake hands."

    1913, Jack London, chapter 7, in The Valley of the Moon
  2. datedtransitiveTo treat someone extremely well; to honor with a generous contribution.

    We are all in rags now but we did him proud. Wish he could be here to see it all.

    2009, Sheila Hancock -, The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw
    2 more examples

    Fortune did them proud, for by the time they got to Wilmington, gold had risen to such heights in Confederate currency that their salaries dwarfed those paid to Southerners doing the same work.

    1994, Frank E. Vandiver, Ploughshares Into Swords: Josiah Gorgas and Confederate Ordnance

    The Misses March did me proud. They'd really gone to town and made all the party food that they thought someone my age would like

    2009, Terry Wheeler, The Padnell Prowler, page 107
Cite this entry
APA

do someone proud. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20someone%20proud

MLA

“do someone proud.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20someone%20proud. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “do someone proud,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20someone%20proud.

Source: do someone proud on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.