"that which is done, acted, or performed, whether good or bad, great or small," Old English dæd "a doing, act, action; transaction, event," from Proto-Germanic *dethi- (source also of Old Saxon dad, Old Norse dað, Old Frisian dede, Middle Dutch daet, Dutch daad, Old High German tat, German Tat "deed, thing done," Gothic gadeþs "a putting, placing"), from PIE *dheti- "thing laid down or done; law; deed" (source also of Lithuanian dėtis "load, burden," Greek thesis "a placing, setting"), suffixed form of root *dhe- "to set, place, put" (compare do).

In law, "written document authenticated by seal of the person whose will it declares, especially for the purpose of conveying real estate" is from early 14c. As a verb, "convey or transfer by deed," 1806, American English. Related: Deeded; deeding.

also child-bed, c. 1200, "state of being in labor," from child + bed (n.). In reference to a bed (real or metaphorical) on which someone or something is born, from 1590s.

late 14c., "specious, giving a (false) appearance of being right to what is in fact unjustifiable," from color (n.) in the secondary sense "that which hides the real character of something" + -able.

1811, "a book printed by William Caxton (obit c. 1491), English merchant in the Netherlands who learned there the art of printing and introduced it to England. The surname is from the place in Cambridgeshire, literally "Kak's estate," from the Old Norse personal name Kakkr.

1829, colloquial shortening of elevenpence (see eleven). In U.S. before c. 1860, a Spanish real or an equivalent amount of some other money (about 12 and a half cents).

1650s, "to make real, to give substance to," from Modern Latin substantiatus, past participle of substantiare, from Latin substantia "being, essence, material" (see substance). Meaning "to demonstrate or prove" is attested from 1803. Related: Substantiated; substantiating.

fashionable residential district of London, noted for the wealthiness and aristocracy of its residents, it was developed in the 1820s and after on land owned by Earl Grosvenor and named (with -ia) for Belgrave, site of a Grosvenor estate in Cheshire.

real name written backwards, 1867, from Greek ana "back" (see ana-) + onyme "name" (from PIE root *no-men- "name"). Properly anonym, but this has another sense in English.

1620s, "power to make use of, right to dispose of or control;" see dispose + -al (2). Meaning "a disposing" (of a daughter by marriage, of money by a will, of an estate by sale, etc.) is from 1650s; of waste material, from c. 1960, originally in medical use.

early 15c., from Anglo-French and Old French veritable "true, real, truthful, valid (in law)," from verité (see verity) + -able. Probably lost mid-17c. and reborrowed or revived after 1830. Related: Veritably.