dun

Noun (1)

dun (usually uncountable, plural duns)

1. (usually) A brownish grey colour.

   Synonyms:

   claybank

Adjective

dun (not comparable)

1. Of a brownish grey colour.
   • Come, thick Night,
     And pall thee in the dunneſt ſmoake of Hell,
     That my keene Knife ſee not the Wound it makes,
     Nor Heauen peepe through the Blanket of the darke,
     To cry, hold, hold.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
   • My Miſtres eyes are nothing like the Sunne,
     Currall is farre more red, then her lips red,
     If ſnow be white, why then her breſts are dun:
     If hairs be wiers, black wiers grow on her head: [...]1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 130”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC

Noun (2)

dun (plural duns)

1. (countable) A collector of debts, especially one who is insistent and demanding.
   • "The truth is, Mr. Curl, I cannot write when I am plagued about trifles; and a tiresome dun this morning put to flight every idea that I had in the world."
     "Mr. Maynard," said the bookseller, in a solemn tone, "it is very wrong to run in debt."1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 162–163
   • 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.1889 [1712], John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull, London: Cassell & Co., →OCLC, page 71
2. An urgent request or demand of payment.
   • Miss Hoppin received a dun for volume 9 1840–1 which Mr. James McConnell, (who now pays the above) is sure was paid.1842, A.B.G., “Errata”, in Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, volume 13, →OCLC, page 251

Verb (1)

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.
   • And hath she sent so soon to dun?1768, Jonathan Swift, The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, London: C. Bathurst, →OCLC, Miscellanies in Verse, page 309
   • 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.
   • Rich bitches who had to be dunned for their milk bills would pay him right now.1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published 2010, page 107

Noun (3)

dun (plural duns)

1. (countable) A newly hatched, immature mayfly; a mayfly subimago.
   • Also, duns are dull and generally sober colored, whilst spinners are more brightly colored and shining and their wings are clear and transparent.1966, John Harris, An Angler's Entomology, New York: Barnes, →OCLC, page 16
2. (countable) A fly made to resemble the mayfly subimago.
   • 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.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, March, page 59

Noun (4)

dun (plural duns)

1. An ancient or medieval fortification; especially a hill-fort in Scotland or Ireland.
   • 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...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...
2. A structure in the Orkney or Shetland islands or in Scotland consisting of a roundhouse surrounded by a circular wall; a broch.
   • Smaller than the broch was the dun, another type of stone-built 'roundhouse'.2013, T.J. Clarkson, The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings, Edinburgh: Birlinn, →ISBN

Verb (2)

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

1. (dated, transitive) To cure, as codfish, by laying them, after salting, in a pile in a dark place, covered with saltgrass or a similar substance.
   • 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.1832, James Thacher, History of Plymouth; from its first settlement in 1620, to the year 1832, Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon, →OCLC, page 317

Noun (5)

dun (plural duns)

1. A mound or small hill.

Interjection

1. Imitating a deep bass note, such as that found in suspenseful music.
   • How would you deal with that power? (Dun, dun, DUN! Insert dramatic music here.)2009, Carrie Tucker, I Love Geeks: The Official Handbook, Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media, →ISBN
   • Dun, dun! Dun, dun! As the music continues, the long shot of Griff's walk is broken down into repeating tight shots of his face, his legs, and his shifting point of view of Brockie.2015, Lisa Dombrowski, The Films of Samuel Fuller: If You Die, I’ll Kill You, page 113

Proper noun capitalized: Dun

Dun

1. A river in Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, which flows into the River Kennet.
2. A river in Wiltshire and Hampshire, England, which flows into the River Test.
3. An alternative name for the River Don in Yorkshire, England.
4. A river in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, alternatively named the Glendun River.
5. A settlement and parish in Angus council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NO6659).
6. A surname

Noun (6) capitalized: DUN

DUN (plural DUNs)

1. (Malaysia) a state legislative assembly
2. (Malaysia) a state legislative assembly seat