don't
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don't
(dōnt)1. Contraction of do not.
2. Nonstandard Contraction of does not.
n.
A statement of what should not be done: a list of the dos and don'ts.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
don't
(dəʊnt)contraction of
do not
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
don't
(doʊnt)v.
1. contraction of do not.
2. Nonstandard (except in some dialects). contraction of does not.
n. 3. don'ts, a list of practices to be avoided. Compare do 1 (def. 43).
usage: As a contraction for does not, don't first appeared in writing in the latter half of the 17th century and remained standard in both speech and writing through the 18th. During the 19th century, under pressure from those who preferred doesn't in that use, don'tgradually became less frequent in writing but remained common in speech. Widely considered nonstandard, it still occurs in the informal speech and the personal writing of many Americans, including the well educated, esp. in the Midland and Southern dialects.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.