Adjacent Words

Dun definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DUN, a.
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, v.t. To cure, as fish, in a manner to give them a dun color. [See Dunning.]
DUN, v.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, n.
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.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of a dull greyish brown to brownish grey color; "the dun and dreary prairie" n
1: horse of a dull brownish grey color
2: a color or pigment varying around a light grey-brown color; "she wore dun" [syn: dun, greyish brown, grayish brown, fawn] v
1: treat cruelly; "The children tormented the stuttering teacher" [syn: torment, rag, bedevil, crucify, dun, frustrate]
2: persistently ask for overdue payment; "The grocer dunned his customers every day by telephone"
3: cure by salting; "dun codfish"
4: make a dun color

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Old English dunn — more at dusk Date: before 12th century 1. a. having the color dun b. of a horse having a grayish-yellow coat with black mane and tail 2. marked by dullness and drabness • dunness noun II. noun Date: 14th century 1. a dun horse 2. a variable color averaging a nearly neutral slightly brownish dark gray 3. a subadult mayfly; also an artificial fly tied to imitate such an insect III. transitive verb (dunned; dunning) Etymology: origin unknown Date: circa 1626 1. to make persistent demands upon for payment 2. plague, pester IV. noun Date: 1628 1. a person who duns 2. an urgent request; especially a demand for payment

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. adj. & n. --adj. 1 dull greyish-brown. 2 poet. dark, dusky. --n. 1 a dun colour. 2 a dun horse. 3 a dark fishing-fly. Phrases and idioms: dun-bird a pochard. dun diver a female or young male goosander. Etymology: OE dun, dunn 2. n. & v. --n. 1 a debt-collector; an importunate creditor. 2 a demand for payment. --v.tr. (dunned, dunning) importune for payment of a debt; pester. Etymology: abbr. of obs. dunkirk privateer, f. Dunkirk in France

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dun Dun, a. [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 (Zo["o]l.), the hooded crow; -- so called from its color; -- also called hoody, and hoddy. Dun diver (Zo["o]l.), the goosander or merganser.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dun Dun, v. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dun Dun, n. [See Dune.] A mound or small hill.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dun Dun, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Dunned; p. pr. & vb. n. Dunning.] [AS. dyne noise, dynian to make a noise, or fr. Icel. dynr, duna, noise, thunder, duna to thunder; the same word as E. din. ???. See Din.] To ask or beset, as a debtor, for payment; to urge importunately. Hath she sent so soon to dun? --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dun Dun, n. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dune Dune, n. [The same word as down: cf. D. duin. See Down a bank of sand.] A low hill of drifting sand usually formed on the coats, but often carried far inland by the prevailing winds. [Written also dun.] Three great rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt, had deposited their slime for ages among the dunes or sand banks heaved up by the ocean around their mouths. --Motley.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Something that is dun is a dull grey-brown colour. ...her dun mare. COLOUR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. Dull brown, yellowish-brown, drab. II. v. a. Press (for a debt), importune, urge. III. n. 1. Importunate creditor. 2. Dunning letter.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

An importunate creditor. Dunny, in the provincial dialect of several counties, signifies DEAF; to dun, then, perhaps may mean to deafen with importunate demands: some derive it from the word DONNEZ, which signifies GIVE. But the true original meaning of the word, owes its birth to one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, so extremely active, and so dexterous in his business, that it became a proverb, when a man refused to pay, Why do not you DUN him? that is, Why do not you set Dun to attest him? Hence it became a cant word, and is now as old as since the days of Henry VII. Dun was also the general name for the hangman, before that of Jack Ketch.

And presently a halter got, Made of the best strong hempen teer, And ere a cat could lick her ear, Had tied it up with as much art, As DUN himself could do for's heart.

Cotton's Virgil Trav, book iv.

Moby Thesaurus

account, annoy, apply pressure, bay, bayard, bedevil, beige, beleaguer, beset, besiege, bill, bill collector, bill of account, bill of lading, blandish, brown, brownish, brownish-yellow, brunet, buckskin, bug, buttonhole, cajole, calico pony, caliginous, call, call in, check, chestnut, chocolate, cinnamon, coax, cocoa, cocoa-brown, coffee, coffee-brown, collection agent, credit man, creditor, creditress, dapple-gray, debtee, demand payment, dim, drab, dun-brown, dun-drab, dunner, dusk, dusky, ecru, exert pressure, fawn, fawn-colored, fuscous, gloomy, gnaw, gray, grege, grizzle, harass, hazel, importune, invoice, itemized bill, khaki, lurid, manifest, mortgage-holder, mortgagee, murky, nag, nag at, needle, note-holder, nut-brown, obscure, olive-brown, olive-drab, paint, painted pony, pester, piebald, pinto, plague, ply, press, pressure, push, reckoning, roan, score, seal, seal-brown, send a statement, sepia, skewbald, snuff-colored, somber, sorrel, statement, tab, tan, taupe, tawny, tease, toast, toast-brown, umber, umber-colored, urge, walnut, walnut-brown, wheedle, work on, yellowish-brown