dun
/dʌn/ noun, adjective, verb, interjection, proper noun
Forms duns dunning dunned doon
- noun A brownish grey colour.
- adjective Of a brownish grey colour.
- noun (countable) A collector of debts, especially one who is insistent and demanding.
- noun An urgent request or demand of payment.
- verb (transitive) To ask or beset a debtor for payment. “Of all he had received from Lady Bellaston, not above five guineas remained and that very morning he had been dunned by a tradesman for twice that sum.”
- verb (transitive) To harass by continually repeating e.g. a request.
- noun (countable) A newly hatched, immature mayfly; a mayfly subimago.
- noun (countable, fishing) A fly made to resemble the mayfly subimago.
- noun An ancient or medieval fortification; especially a hill-fort in Scotland or Ireland.
- noun (archaeology) A structure in the Orkney or Shetland islands or in Scotland consisting of a roundhouse surrounded by a circular wall; a broch.
- verb (transitive, dated) To cure, as codfish, by laying them, after salting, in a pile in a dark place, covered with saltgrass or a similar substance.
- noun A mound or small hill.
- interjection Imitating a deep bass note, such as that found in suspenseful music.
- proper noun A river in Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, which flows into the River Kennet.
- proper noun A river in Wiltshire and Hampshire, England, which flows into the River Test.
- proper noun An alternative name for the River Don in Yorkshire, England.
- proper noun A river in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, alternatively named the Glendun River.
- proper noun A settlement and parish in Angus council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NO6659).
- proper noun A surname
- noun a state legislative assembly
Synonyms
claybank subimago greyish brown grayish brown fawn torment rag bedevil crucify frustrate
Etymology
From Middle English dun, donn, dunne, from Old English dunn (“dun, dingy brown, bark-colored, brownish black”), from Proto-West Germanic *duʀn, from Proto-Germanic *duznaz, *dusnaz (“brown, yellow”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust”). Cognate with Old Saxon dun (“brown, dark”), Old High German tusin (“ash-gray, dull brown, pale yellow, dark”), Old Norse dunna (“female mallard; duck”).
Alternative etymology derives the Old English word from Brythonic (compare Middle Welsh dwnn (“dark (red)”)), from Proto-Celtic *dusnos (compare Old Irish donn and Scottish Gaelic donn (“brown”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰews- (compare Old Saxon dosan (“chestnut brown”)). More at dusk.
Unknown; perhaps a variant of din. Several sources suggest origin from Joe Dun, the name of a bailiff known for arresting debtors, but this is controversial.
Uncertain; likely from the color.
From Irish dún or Scottish Gaelic dùn, from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“fortress”). Cognate with Welsh dinas (“city”). Doublet of town.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A mound or small hill.
- verb To cure, as codfish, in a particular manner, by laying them, after salting, in a pile in a dark place, covered with salt grass or some like substance.
- verb To ask or beset, as a debtor, for payment; to urge importunately.
- noun One who duns; a dunner.
Etymology [See Dune.]
Etymology [AS. dyne noise, dynian to make a noise, or fr. Icel. dynr, duna, noise, thunder, duna to thunder; the same word as E. din. Din.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dun”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details