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how do you do
1interjection
- (used as a conventional greeting.)
how-do-you-do
2[ hou-duh-yuh-doo ]
noun
- a greeting; salutation:
She smiled and gave him a how-do-you-do fit for a king.
- an awkward or unpleasant event or situation:
It's a fine how-do-you-do that they've refused to help us out.
how do you do
sentence substitute
- Alsohow do?how d'ye do? a formal greeting said by people who are being introduced to each other or are meeting for the first time
noun
- informal.a difficult situation
Word History and Origins
Origin of how do you do1
Idioms and Phrases
A conventional greeting used mostly after being introduced to someone, as in And this is our youngest—say “How do you do” to Mr. Smith . Although it is a question, it requires no reply. Originally, in the 1600s, this expression was an inquiry after a person's health or standing, how do you do meaning “how do you fare?” Today we usually express this as How are you ? or How are you doing ? or How goes it ? or How's it going ? Even more general are the slangy locutions How are things ? or How's tricks ? All of these greetings date from the first half of the 1900s.Example Sentences
She tried the direct, how-do-you-do handshake approach, but was blocked by a burly aide-de-camp.
Then he of Clusium would flutter and say, How-do-you-do, in squeaky crow tones.
Dinah Oh, Mr. Pim, you mustn't run away without even saying how-do-you-do!
The idea of going right into the pantry without a how-do-you-do 21 or a by-your-leave!
Do you people down there still keep up that tiresome business of 'how-do-you-do' and 'good-bye'?
The children of the ranchman called the birds the 'how-do-you-do owls,' from the way they bow their heads as people pass.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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