Duty /(?)/

pl. Duties

1. That which is due; payment. [Obs. as signifying a material thing.]

   When thou receivest money for thy labor or ware, thou receivest thy duty.

2. That which a person is bound by moral obligation to do, or refrain from doing; that which one ought to do; service morally obligatory.

   Forgetting his duty toward God, his sovereign lord, and his country.

3. Hence, any assigned service or business; as, the duties of a policeman, or a soldier; to be on duty.

   With records sweet of duties done.

   To employ him on the hardest and most imperative duty.

   Duty is a graver term than obligation. A duty hardly exists to do trivial things; but there may be an obligation to do them.

4. Specifically, obedience or submission due to parents and superiors.
5. Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage.
6. The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States). (Engin.)
7. Tax, toll, impost, or customs; excise; any sum of money required by government to be paid on the importation, exportation, or consumption of goods. (Com.)