Dun

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ÊŒn

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").

Alternative etymology derives the Old English word from Late Brythonic (cf. Old Welsh dwnn 'dark (red)'), from Proto-Celtic *dusno (cf. Old Irish donn), from Proto-Indo-European *dwos (cf. Old Saxon dosan 'chestnut brown'). More at dusk.

Full definition of dun

Noun

1. (uncountable) A brownish grey colour.

Adjective

1. Of a brownish grey colour.
• PierpontSummer's dun cloud comes thundering up.
• KebleChill and dun
  Falls on the moor the brief November day.

Derived terms

• dun-bar

Unknown; perhaps a variant of din.

Noun

1. (countable) A collector of debts.
• Arbuthnotto be pulled by the sleeve by some rascally dun
• 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.He sent his debtor a dun.

Verb

1. (transitive) To ask or beset a debtor for payment.
• Jonathan SwiftHath 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.

Derived terms

• dun letter

Pronunciation

• IPA: /duːn/
• Rhymes: -uːn

Noun

1. A valley in the Himalayan foothills, e.g. Dehra Dun.

Noun

1. (countable) A newly hatched, immature mayfly.

See done.

Verb

verb

1. (informal) Eye dialect of done:

   dun

   (past of do)
   He dun it before and he dun it again.Now, ya dun it!

See don’t.

Contraction

1. Eye dialect of don't

Verb

1. (transitive) To cure, as codfish, by laying them, after salting, in a pile in a dark place, covered with saltgrass or a similar substance.

See dune.

Noun

1. A mound or small hill.

Imitative.

Interjection

1. (humorous) Imitating suspenseful music.
• Carrie Tucker, I Love GeeksHas he allowed the power and the repercussions of the Death Note to influence his entire life? How would you deal with that power? (Dun, dun, DUN! Insert dramatic music here.)

Anagrams

• DNU