• Donald

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˈdÉ’n.É™ld/

    Origin

    Name of Scottish kings and an early saint, from Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall, dumno "world" + val "rule".

    Full definition of Donald

    Proper noun

    Donald

    (plural Donalds)
    1. .
      • 1816 Walter Scott, Old Mortality, Samuel H. Parker, 1836, page 232"Country?" replied Cuddie; "ou, the country's weel eneugh, and it werena that dour deevil, Calver'se, ( they ca' him Dundee now) that's stirring about yet in the Highlands, they say, with a' the Donalds, and Duncans, and Dugalds, that ever wore bottomless breeks, driving about wi' him, to set things asteer again, - - -
      • 1980 Laura Furman, The Glass House, a Novella and Stories, Viking Press, 1980, ISBN 0670341797, page 76:My friends call me Terry. My husband always used my full name, Teresa. He said it made him feel like he was married to a foreign woman. And I never called him Don or Donny or Donny Joe. I called him Donald from the first time we met.
      • 1991 Frank Chin, Donald Duk, Coffee House Press, 1991, ISBN 0918273838, page 1Donald Duk never liked his name. He hates his name. He is not a duck. He is not a cartoon character. - - - "Only the Chinese are stupid enough to give a kid a stupid name like Donald Duk," Donald Duk says to himself.

    Usage notes

    Popular in all English-speaking countries in the first half of the 20th century.

    Derived terms

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