dun

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)A brownish grey colour.
2. (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."”

   “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.”

   “Melancholy duns came looking for him at all hours.”

   “‘Frank's worried about duns,’ she said as the butler went away.”

3. 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.”

4. (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.”

5. (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.”

6. 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 British pant, a hollow, and dun, a fort or camp, Pant-y-dun.”

7. 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'.”

8. A mound or small hill.
9. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of dhoon (“Himalayan valley”).
10. (Malaysia)a state legislative assembly
11. (Malaysia)a state legislative assembly seat

adj

1. (not-comparable)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.”

   “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: [...]”

   “Red o'er the forest glows the setting sun, / The line of yellow light dies fast away / That crown'd the eastern copse, and chill and dun / Falls on the moor the brief November day.”

   “Where is the nobility in these streets paved with greasy carbon and dun ash?”

verb

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

   “And hath she sent so soon to dun?”

   “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.”

3. (alt-of, informal, nonstandard, pronunciation-spelling)Eye dialect spelling of done: past participle of do.

   “Now, ya dun it!”

   “...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."”

   ““Oh, Because I want their dollar. I don't want Anything they've not got. I never dun. I'm there, and they can pay me if they like. I go nowhere on purpose: I happen by. Sorry there is no cup to give you a drink.[…]”

4. (alt-of, informal, nonstandard, pronunciation-spelling)Pronunciation spelling of don't: contraction of do + not.

   “Fwhere's he come from, I dun'no'. French or English, I dun'no'. But a gintleman born, I know.”

5. (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.”

intj

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.)”

   “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.”

   “'DUN DUN DUN DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN! DUN DUN DUN DUNDUN-DUN-DUN... PRESSURE!' By 2.05 a.m. I am Very Awake Indeed and the catastrophising continues.”

   “Whenever that iconic riff in the score cued up—Dun dun ... dun dun ... dun dun dun dun dun-dun-dun-dun ... —Jack's heart would race, and she'd feel the fear on her skin.”

name

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