do away with
Britishverb
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to kill or destroy
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to discard or abolish
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Make an end of, eliminate. For example, The town fathers have decided to do away with the old lighting system .
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Demolish, destroy, kill, as in The animal officer did away with the injured deer lying by the side of the road . In the 13th century both usages were simply put as do away , the with being added only in the late 1700s.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Burnham’s team decided to do away with the wooden podium, opting for the new prime minister to give his remarks without any notes, to signify a break with the past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
"The computer will do away with work; everyone will be ecstatically happy."
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
“I just think that we need to do away with that argument,” he said, suggesting it was being pushed by opponents for lack of a coherent vision or winning message of their own.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2026
DeMaio said the state ballot measure “does not do away with mail in ballots, because voters of all political backgrounds like the convenience of mail in ballots. So we want to keep that convenience.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
Why isn’t it, “a friend of the footballer”? Doesn’t the con-struction “of the” do away with the need for another possessive?
From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
