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Webster 1913 Edition

Dun

Dun

(dŭn)
,
Noun.
[See
Dune
.]
A mound or small hill.

Dun

,
Verb.
T.
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.

Dun

(dŭn)
,
Verb.
T.
&
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Dunned
(dŭnd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Dunning
(dŭn′nĭng)
.]
[AS.
dyne
noise,
dynian
to make a noise, or fr. Icel.
dynr
,
duna
, noise, thunder,
duna
to thunder; the same word as E.
din
. √74. See
Din
.]
To ask or beset (e.g., a debtor), for payment; to urge importunately.
Hath she sent so soon to
dun
?
Swift.

Dun

,
Noun.
1.
One who duns; a dunner.
To be pulled by the sleeve by some rascally
dun
.
Arbuthnot.
2.
An urgent request or demand of payment;
as, he sent his debtor a
dun
.

Dun

,
Adj.
[AS.
dunn
, of Celtic origin; cf. W.
dwn
, Ir. & Gael.
donn
.]
Of a dark color; of a color partaking of a brown and black; of a dull brown color; swarthy.
Summer’s
dun
cloud comes thundering up.
Pierpont.
Chill and
dun

Falls on the moor the brief November day.
Keble.
Dun crow
(Zool.)
,
the hooded crow; – so called from its color; – also called
hoody
, and
hoddy
.
–
Dun diver
(Zool.)
,
the goosander or merganser.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dun

DUN

,
Adj.
1.
Of a dark color; of a color partaking of a brown and black; of a dull brown color; swarthy.
2.
Dark; gloomy.
In the dun air sublime.

DUN

,
Verb.
T.
To cure, as fish, in a manner to give them a dun color. [See Dunning.]

DUN

,
Verb.
T.
[See Din.]
1.
Literally, to clamor for payment of a debt. Hence, to urge for payment; to demand a debt in a pressing manner; to urge for payment with importunity. But in common usage, dun is often used in a milder sense, and signifies to call for, or ask for payment.
2.
To urge importunately, in a general sense, but not an elegant word.

DUN

,
Noun.
1.
An importunate creditor who urges for payment.
2.
An urgent request or demand of payment in writing; as, he sent his debtor a dun.
3.
An eminence or mound. [See Down and Town.]

Definition 2024

dun

dun

See also: dún, dùn, dūn, dün, dǔn, d'un, duń., and dūŋ

English

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ʌn

Noun

dun ‎(countable and uncountable, plural duns)

  1. (uncountable) A brownish grey colour.
    dun colour:    
Translations

Adjective

dun ‎(not comparable)

  1. Of a brownish grey colour.
    • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 130:
      If ſnow be white, why then her breſts are dun
    • 1827, John Keble, The Christian Year, London: Walter Scott, OCLC 65605495, Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity:
      glows the setting sun [...] and chill and dun / Falls on the moor the brief November day.
Translations

Derived terms

See also

Etymology 2

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.

Noun

dun ‎(plural duns)

  1. (countable) A collector of debts.
    • 1889, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull, London: Cassell & Co., OCLC 6255586, page 71:
      Look ye, gentlemen, I have lived with credit in the world, and it grieves my heart never to stir out of my doors but to be pulled by the sleeve by some rascally dun or other.
    • 1933, George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, Ch. 18:
      Melancholy duns came looking for him at all hours.
    • 1970, John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, New York 2007, p. 102:
      ‘Frank's worried about duns,’ she said as the butler went away.
  2. An urgent request or demand of payment.
    • 1842, A.B.G., “Errata”, in Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, volume 13, OCLC 10193591, page 251:
      Miss Hoppin received a dun for volume 9 1840–1 which Mr. James McConnell, (who now pays the above) is sure was paid.
    • 2016 November 17, catherbrownbooks, “1950s Linotype Part Catalog, Star Parts, Linotype Parts Company”, in eBay:
      If your payment is delayed, ebay is liable to send a dun or two.
Translations

Verb

dun ‎(third-person singular simple present duns, present participle dunning, simple past and past participle dunned)

  1. (transitive) To ask or beset a debtor for payment.
    • 1768, Jonathan Swift, The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, London: C. Bathurst, OCLC 459163337, Miscellanies in Verse, page 309:
      And hath she sent so soon to dun?
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 577:
      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.
    • 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, p. 107:
      Rich bitches who had to be dunned for their milk bills would pay him right now.
  2. (transitive) To harass by continually repeating e.g. a request.
Translations
Derived terms
  • dun letter

Etymology 3

Uncertain; likely from the color.

Noun

dun ‎(plural duns)

  1. (countable) A newly hatched, immature mayfly; a mayfly subimago.
    • 1966, John Harris, An Angler's Entomology, New York: Barnes, OCLC 3612670, page 16:
      Also, duns are dull and generally sober colored, whilst spinners are more brightly colored and shining and their wings are clear and transparent.
  2. (countable, fishing) A fly made to resemble the mayfly subimago.
    • 1676, Charles Cotton, The Compleat Angler. Being Instructions how to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream, London: Richard Marriott, and Henry Brome, OCLC 228732346, March, page 59:
      We have besides for this Month a little Dun call'd a whirling Dun (though it is not the whirling Dun indeed, which is one of the best Flies we have) and for this the dubbing must be of the bottom fur of a Squirrels tail and the wing of the grey feather of a Drake.

Synonyms

Translations

Etymology 4

  • From Irish dún, Scottish Gaelic dùn, or Old Welsh din, "fortress". Cognate with Welsh dinas ‎(“city”).

    Alternative forms

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): (Britain) /dʌn/, (US) /dən/

    Noun

    dun ‎(plural duns)

    1. An ancient or medieval fortification; especially a hill-fort in Scotland or Ireland.
      • 1858, Henry MacLauchlan, Memoir written during a survey of the Roman Wall, through the counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, in the years 1852-1854, London: Printed for private circulation, OCLC 14866297, page 9:
        Pampedun, or Pandon, was probably a place of residence from the earliest times; its sheltered situation for boats, and proximity to the ancient way over the river, protected perhaps by a dun or camp, on the height above [...] possibly gave origin to the ancient name of the place, Pampedun, from the British pant, a hollow, and dun, a fort or camp, Pant-y-dun.
    2. (archeology) A structure in the Orkney or Shetland islands or in Scotland consisting of a roundhouse surrounded by a circular wall; a broch.
      • 2013, T.J. Clarkson, The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings, Edinburgh: Birlinn, ISBN 1780271735:
        Smaller than the broch was the dun, another type of stone-built 'roundhouse'.

    Etymology 5

    See do.

    Verb

    dun

    1. (nonstandard, informal) Eye dialect spelling of done: past participle of do
      Now, ya dun it!
      • 1895 May 1, S.L.N. Foote, “Correspondence”, in International Journal of Medicine and Surgery, volume 8, retrieved 2016–13–10, page 194:
        ...a wise old lady exclaimed, "Why Mrs. M. warn't you orful skeerd wunst when you seed a dog fight? [...] an that ere big yaller dog bit orf your baby's hand that minit; in cors he dun it, so now that settles it."
    2. (nonstandard, informal) Eye dialect spelling of don't: contraction of do + not.
      • 1901, Gilbert Parker, The Right of Way, New York and London: Harper, OCLC 169519:
        Fwhere's he come from, I dun'no'. French or English, I dun'no'. But a gintleman born, I know.

    Etymology 6

    Likely from the color of fish so prepared.

    Verb

    dun ‎(third-person singular simple present duns, present participle dunning, simple past and past participle dunned)

    1. (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.
      • 1832, James Thacher, History of Plymouth; from its first settlement in 1620, to the year 1832, Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon, OCLC 78447431, page 317:
        Dun-fish are of a superior quality for the table, and are cured in such a manner as to give them a dun or brownish color. Fish for dunning are caught early in spring, and sometimes February, at the Isle of Shoals.

    Etymology 7

    See dune.

    Noun

    dun ‎(plural duns)

    1. A mound or small hill.

    Etymology 8

    Imitative.

    Interjection

    dun

    1. (humorous) Imitating suspenseful music.
      • 2009, Carrie Tucker, I Love Geeks: The Official Handbook, Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media, ISBN 9781605500232:
        How would you deal with that power? (Dun, dun, DUN! Insert dramatic music here.)

    References

    • dun in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

    Anagrams

    Danish

    Etymology

    From Old Norse dúnn ‎(“down”).

    Noun

    dun n (singular definite dunet, plural indefinite dun)

    1. down (soft, immature feathers)

    Inflection

    Inflection of dun
    neuter
    gender    		 Singular Plural
    indefinite definite indefinite definite
    nominative dun dunet dun dunene
    genitive duns dunets duns dunenes

    See also

    Dutch

    Pronunciation

    From Middle Dutch dunne, from Old Dutch *thunni, from Proto-Germanic *þunnuz. Cognates with English thin (Compare West-Flemish thinne).

    Adjective

    dun ‎(comparative dunner, superlative dunst)

    1. thin, slender
    2. sparse
    3. (liquid) runny

    Inflection

    Inflection of dun
    uninflected dun
    inflected dunne
    comparative dunner
    positive comparative superlative
    predicative/adverbial dun dunner het dunst
    het dunste
    indefinite m./f. sing. dunne dunnere dunste
    n. sing. dun dunner dunste
    plural dunne dunnere dunste
    definite dunne dunnere dunste
    partitive duns dunners —

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

    Verb

    dun

    1. first-person singular present indicative of dunnen
    2. imperative of dunnen

    Galician

    Etymology

    From de ‎(“of”) + un ‎(“masculine singular indefinite article”)

    Contraction

    dun m

    1. Contraction of de un. From a; of a

    See also

    Kiput

    Etymology

    From Proto-North Sarawak *daqun, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *dahun (compare Malay daun).

    Noun

    dun

    1. leaf

    Lojban

    Rafsi

    dun

    1. rafsi of dunli.

    Mandarin

    Romanization

    dun

    1. Nonstandard spelling of dūn.
    2. Nonstandard spelling of dún.
    3. Nonstandard spelling of dǔn.
    4. Nonstandard spelling of dùn.

    Usage notes

    • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

    Old English

    Etymology

    Apparently from a Celtic source; compare Old Irish dun ‎(“hill, hill-fort”), Welsh din.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    dūn f

    1. hill, mountain

    Declension

    Declension of dun (strong ō-stem)
    Case Singular Plural
    nominative dūn dūna, dūne
    accusative dūne dūna, dūne
    genitive dūne dūna
    dative dūne dūnum

    Derived terms

    • ofdune

    Descendants

    Swedish

    Etymology

    From Old Norse dúnn ‎(“down”).

    Noun

    dun n

    1. down, what grows on young birds

    Declension

    Declension of dun
    singular plural
    Neuter indefinite definite indefinite definite
    nominative dun dunet dun dunen
    genitive duns dunets duns dunens

    Related terms

    • dunboll
    • dunbolster
    • dunbädd
    • dunig
    • dunighet
    • dunjacka
    • dunkudde
    • dunlätt
    • dunmjuk
    • duntäcke
    • dununge
    • dunört
    • ejderdun
    • gåsdun

    References

    • Etymology

    From Middle English dun, dunne, from Old English dunn ‎(“dun, dingy brown, bark-colored, brownish black”), from Proto-Germanic *dusnaz ‎(“brown, yellow”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhūw- ‎(“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 Late Brythonic (compare Old Welsh dwnn 'dark (red)'), from Proto-Celtic *dusno (compare Old Irish donn), from Proto-Indo-European *dwos (compare Old Saxon dosan 'chestnut brown'). More at dusk.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]

    Etymology

    • IPA(key): /duːn/

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