E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Duty
means what is due or owing, a debt which should be paid. Thus obedience is the debt of citizens to rulers for protection, and service is the debt of persons employed for wages received.
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“Strictly considered, all duty is owed originally to God only; but . . duties to God may be distributed … into duties towards self, towards manhood, and towards God.”—Gregory: Christian Ethics, part ii. division i. p. 172.
