English

Contraction

don't

1. Contraction of do not, negative auxiliary.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     “I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. […]”

   • The Police, "Don't Stand So Close to Me", Zenyatta Mondatta, A&M Records:

     Don't Stand, Don't stand so, Don't stand so close to me.

2. (nonstandard) Contraction of does not.
   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, chapter 2:

     My mother knows old Mr. Laurence, but says he’s very proud and don’t like to mix with his neighbors.

   • 1971, Carol King, “So Far Away”, Tapestry, Ode Records:

     I sure hope the road don’t come to own me.

   • 2000, Eminem (music), “Stan”, in The Marshall Mathers LP:

     My girlfriend's jealous 'cause I talk about you twenty-four seven / But she don't know you like I know you, Slim, no one does / She don't know what it was like for people like us growing up / You gotta call me man, I'll be the biggest fan you'll ever lose

   • 2012, Justin Bieber (music), “She Don't Like the Lights”, in Believe:

     She don't like the flash, wanna keep us in the dark / She don't like the fame, baby when we're miles apart

   • 2013, Tim McGraw (music), “Highway Don't Care”, in Two Lanes of Freedom:

     The highway don't care

3. (African American Vernacular) Used before an emphatic negative subject.

   Don’t nobody care.

Translations

Interjection

don't

1. Stop!, Don't do that!

Noun

don't ‎(plural don'ts)

1. Something that must not be done (usually in the phrase dos and don'ts).

Antonyms

• do

Derived terms

• dos and don'ts

See also

• doesn't