to-do
Preserved but no longer current.
(pronounced quickly, and as one word), a disturbance, trouble; "here’s a pretty TO-DO," here is an unpleasant difficulty. This exactly tallies with the French, AFFAIRE (à faire).—See Forby’s Vocabulary of East Anglia.
Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to-do” mean?
(pronounced quickly, and as one word), a disturbance, trouble; "here’s a pretty TO-DO," here is an unpleasant difficulty. This exactly tallies with the French, AFFAIRE (à faire).—See Forby’s Vocabulary of East Anglia.
Is “to-do” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.