Word.ws English Dictionary

doing the handsome thing

doing the handsome thing is the present participle and gerund of do the handsome thing.

Meaning of do the handsome thing

Verb

do the handsome thing (third-person singular simple present does the handsome thing, present participle doing the handsome thing, simple past did the handsome thing, past participle done the handsome thing)

  1. To act liberally.
    • Well, thought her parents and the neighbors, the old coger is going to do the handsome thing for little Sally, perhaps when she gets married, in the shape of a nice fit-out; he may give her a snug little cottage, who knows […]1851, Carpet-bag: A Literary Journal, volume 1

Questions about doing the handsome thing

What is doing the handsome thing the present participle and gerund of?
Doing the handsome thing is the present participle and gerund of do the handsome thing.

Words near doing the handsome thing in the dictionary

  1. doing the decent thing
  2. doing the deed
  3. doing the dirty on
  4. doing the dishes
  5. doing the Dutch
  6. doing the handsome thing
  7. doing the hard yards
  8. doing the honor
  9. doing the honors
  10. doing the honour
  11. doing the impossible

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doing the handsome thing (page history and authors); do the handsome thing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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