do'st

A form of do — A syntactic marker in a question whose main verb is not another auxiliary verb or be.

Meanings

verb

alternative doest · alternative dost

  1. archaicindicativepresentsecond personsingularsecond-person singular simple present indicative of do

    Death! what do'st? O, hold thy blow.

    1646, Richard Crashaw, Vpon the Death of Mr. Herrys
    3 more examples

    Affection? thy Intention ſtabs the Center. / Thou do'ſt make poſſible things not ſo held, / Communicat'ſt vvith Dreames (hovv can this be?) / VVith vvhat's vnreall: thou coactiue art, / And fellow'ſt nothing.

    c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 278, column 2

    Yet thou, they ſay, for Marriage do'ſt provide: / Is this an Age to Buckle vvith a Bride?

    1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 90

    Never, never, will I leave thee! What, do'st thou think I would desert thee?

    1807, [Miss Guion], chapter I, in The Three Germans. Mysteries Exemplified in the Life of Holstein of Lutztein. A German Romance. […], volume I, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, page 7
Cite this entry
APA

do'st. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do'st

MLA

“do'st.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do'st. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “do'st,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do'st.

Source: do'st on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.