Deed (?), a. Dead. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Deed, n. [AS. d?d; akin to OS.
dād, D. & Dan. daad, G. thai, Sw.
dåd, Goth. d?ds; fr. the root of do. See
Do, v. t.] 1. That
which is done or effected by a responsible agent; an act; an action;
a thing done; -- a word of extensive application, including, whatever
is done, good or bad, great or small.
And Joseph said to them, What deed is this
which ye have done?
Gen. xliv. 15.
We receive the due reward of our
deeds.
Luke xxiii. 41.
Would serve his kind in deed and
word.
Tennyson.
2. Illustrious act; achievement;
exploit. "Knightly deeds." Spenser.
Whose deeds some nobler poem shall
adorn.
Dryden.
3. Power of action; agency; efficiency.
[Obs.]
To be, both will and deed, created
free.
Milton.
4. Fact; reality; -- whence we have
indeed.
5. (Law) A sealed instrument in
writing, on paper or parchment, duly executed and delivered,
containing some transfer, bargain, or contract.
☞ The term is generally applied to conveyances of real
estate, and it is the prevailing doctrine that a deed must be signed
as well as sealed, though at common law signing was formerly not
necessary.
Blank deed, a printed form containing the
customary legal phraseology, with blank spaces for writing in names,
dates, boundaries, etc.
6. Performance; -- followed by
of. [Obs.] Shak.
In deed, in fact; in truth; verily. See
Indeed.
Deed, v. t. To convey or transfer
by deed; as, he deeded all his estate to his eldest son.
[Colloq. U. S.]