Word Direct Answers

What does "due" mean?

Due: Justly claimed as a right or property; proper; suitable; becoming; appropriate; fit. Her obedience, which is due to me. Shak. With dirges due, in sad array, Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne. Gray.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Such as (a thing) ought to be; fulfilling obligation; proper; lawful; regular; appointed; sufficient; exact; as, due process of law; due service; in due time.
  2. 3.Appointed or required to arrive at a given time; as, the steamer was due yesterday.
  3. 4.Owing; ascribable, as to a cause. This effect is due to the attraction of the sun. J. D. Forbes.
  4. 5.Directly; exactly; as, a due east course.
  5. 6.That which is owed; debt; that which one contracts to pay, or do, to or for another; that which belongs or may be claimed as a right; whatever custom, law, or morality requires to be done; a fee; a toll. He will give the devil his due. Shak. Yearly little dues of wheat, and wine, and oil. Tennyson.
  6. 7.Right; just title or claim. The key of this infernal pit by due . . . I keep. Milton.
  7. 8.To endue. [Obs.] Shak.

Sources