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Derring-do is a quirky holdover from Middle English that came to occupy its present place in the language by a series of mistakes and misunderstandings. In Middle English, dorring don meant simply "daring to do." The phrase was misprinted as derrynge do in a 15th-century work by poet John Lydgate, and Edmund Spenser took it up from there. (A glossary to Spenser's work defined it as "manhood and chevalrie.") Literary author Sir Walter Scott and others brought the noun into modern use.
Examples of derring-do in a Sentence
Cosmo Brockway, Architectural Digest, 12 Aug. 2024
The early years of the motion-picture industry were centered around fights, on shootouts, on slapstick pratfalls, and other feats of physical derring-do.
—Jordan Crucchiola, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2024
Spy movies often play up the action, but there’s a lot of paperwork behind the derring-do.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 5 Apr. 2024
Each play essential parts in the action, and do their fair share of conniving and derring-do to aid or defeat the grand, evil purposes of the bad guys.
—Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for derring-do 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'derring-do.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Derring-do.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derring-do. Accessed 18 Sep. 2024.
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