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dun

See also: Appendix:Variations of "dun"

Contents

EnglishEdit

 
Wikipedia

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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 *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), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰews- (compare Old Saxon dosan (“chestnut brown”)). More at dusk.

NounEdit

dun (usually uncountable, plural duns)

  1. A brownish grey colour.
    dun colour:  
TranslationsEdit

AdjectiveEdit

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.
TranslationsEdit

Derived termsEdit

See alsoEdit

Etymology 2Edit

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.

NounEdit

dun (plural duns)

  1. (countable) A collector of debts.
    • 1889 [1712], 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.
TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

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, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, 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.
  2. (transitive) To harass by continually repeating e.g. a request.
TranslationsEdit
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Uncertain; likely from the color.

NounEdit

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.

SynonymsEdit

TranslationsEdit

Etymology 4Edit

  • From Irish dún or Scottish Gaelic dùn, from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“fortress”). Cognate with Welsh dinas (“city”).

    Alternative formsEdit

    NounEdit

     
    Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia

    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:
        Smaller than the broch was the dun, another type of stone-built 'roundhouse'.

    Etymology 5Edit

    See do.

    VerbEdit

    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[1], 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 6Edit

    Likely from the color of fish so prepared.

    VerbEdit

    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 7Edit

    See dune.

    NounEdit

    dun (plural duns)

    1. A mound or small hill.

    Etymology 8Edit

    Imitative.

    InterjectionEdit

    dun

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

    ReferencesEdit

    AnagramsEdit

    BambaraEdit

    PronunciationEdit

    VerbEdit

    dun

    1. to eat

    ReferencesEdit

    DanishEdit

    EtymologyEdit

    From Old Norse dúnn (“down”).

    PronunciationEdit

    • IPA(key): /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]

    NounEdit

    dun n (singular definite dunet, plural indefinite dun)

    1. down (soft, immature feathers)

    InflectionEdit

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

    See alsoEdit

    DutchEdit

    EtymologyEdit

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

    PronunciationEdit

    AdjectiveEdit

    dun (comparative dunner, superlative dunst)

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

    InflectionEdit

    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 —

    AntonymsEdit

    Derived termsEdit

    VerbEdit

    dun

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

    GalicianEdit

    EtymologyEdit

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

    ContractionEdit

    dun m

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

    See alsoEdit

    KiputEdit

    EtymologyEdit

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

    NounEdit

    dun

    1. leaf

    MandarinEdit

    RomanizationEdit

    dun

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

    Usage notesEdit

    • 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 EnglishEdit

    EtymologyEdit

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

    PronunciationEdit

    NounEdit

    dūn f

    1. hill, mountain

    DeclensionEdit

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

    Derived termsEdit

    DescendantsEdit

    SwedishEdit

    EtymologyEdit

    From Old Norse dúnn (“down”).

    NounEdit

    dun n

    1. down, what grows on young birds

    DeclensionEdit

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

    Related termsEdit

    ReferencesEdit

    VolapükEdit

    EtymologyEdit

    Borrowed from German tun and English do.

    PronunciationEdit

    NounEdit

    dun (plural duns)

    1. deed, action, act, doing

    DeclensionEdit

    declension of dun
    singular plural
    nominative dun duns
    genitive duna dunas
    dative dune dunes
    accusative duni dunis
    predicative dunu dunus
    vocative o dun! o duns!

    Derived termsEdit

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