I should have long ere this paid my devoirs to the inhabitants of Raymond Castle.

[M]y eyes were oft times [on the] charmante maitresse de la maison, who glided among her guests in her flowing Spanish mantilla, and train of the clearest blonde, doing her devoirs with winning kindness, and showing how much benevolence of manner adds to beauty.

A young man who arrives at Florence late in the evening, and, instead of going prosaically to bed, or hanging over the travellers' book at his hotel, walks forth without loss of time to pay his devoirs to the Beautiful, is a young man after my own heart!

Then quoth the portress to the mistress of the house, "O my lady, arise and go to thy place that I in turn may do my devoir."

That is the little bit of essential information which enables us to complete our devoir – without it we are just ordinary people, dispossessed, taken unawares: the original sin!

Devoir

Meaning

Noun

Origin

Related