GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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1.       
   Duty , n.; pl. Duties . [From Due.]
   That which is due; payment. [Obs. as signifying a material thing.]
   1913 Webster
   When thou receivest money for thy labor or ware, thou receivest thy duty.
   Tyndale.
   
   1913 Webster
   That which a person is bound by moral obligation to do, or refrain from doing; that which one ought to do; service morally obligatory.
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   Forgetting his duty toward God, his sovereign lord, and his country.
   Hallam.
   
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   Hence, any assigned service or business; as, the duties of a policeman, or a soldier; to be on duty.
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   With records sweet of duties done.
   Keble.
   
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   To employ him on the hardest and most imperative duty.
   Hallam.
   
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   Duty is a graver term than obligation. A duty hardly exists to do trivial things; but there may be an obligation to do them.
   C. J. Smith.
   
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   Specifically, obedience or submission due to parents and superiors.
   Shak.
   
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   Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage. “My duty to you.”  
   Shak.
   
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   (Engin.) 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).
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   (Com.) Tax, toll, impost, or customs; excise; any sum of money required by government to be paid on the importation, exportation, or consumption of goods.
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   ☞ An impost on land or other real estate, and on the stock of farmers, is not called a duty, but a direct tax. [U.S.]
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   Ad valorem duty, a duty which is graded according to the cost, or market value, of the article taxed. See Ad valorem. -- Specific duty, a duty of a specific sum assessed on an article without reference to its value or market. -- On duty, actually engaged in the performance of one's assigned task.
   1913 Webster