dun1
[duhn]
- to make repeated and insistent demands upon, especially for the payment of a debt.
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- a person, especially a creditor, who duns another.
- a demand for payment, especially a written one.
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Origin of dun1
First recorded in 1620–30; origin obscure
dun2
[duhn]
- dull, grayish brown.
- dark; gloomy.
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Origin of dun2
before 1000; Middle English dun(ne), Old English dunn; cognate with Old Saxon dun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for dun
Contemporary Examples
The challenge was set by HSBC, sponsors of the Open Championship, and filmed at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in Dublin.
Cognizant, headquartered in New Jersey, grew out of a partnership between Dun & Bradstreet and an Indian firm.
And the insurance fund run by the FDIC is replenishing itself without having to dun taxpayers.
Historical Examples
I dun'no' whether he is married or not, but there is a woman livin' there.
Quaint CourtshipsVarious
The three distinguished characters were a spendthrift, a bailiff, and a dun.
Tales And Novels, Volume 4 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
"Da-da-dat is, er—I spec' so—er—I dun'no', ma'm," he stammered.
Southern Lights and ShadowsVarious
Flame-colour is a mixture of auburn and dun; dun of white and black; yellow of white and auburn.
TimaeusPlato
I made sure he was going to dun, and that I should have to shuffle.
dun1
- (tr) to press or importune (a debtor) for the payment of a debt
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- a person, esp a hired agent, who importunes another for the payment of a debt
- a demand for payment, esp one in writing
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Word Origin
C17: of unknown origin
dun2
- a brownish-grey colour
- a horse of this colour
- angling
- an immature adult mayfly (the subimago), esp one of the genus Ephemera
- an artificial fly imitating this or a similar fly
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- of a dun colour
- dark and gloomy
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Word Origin
Old English dunn; related to Old Norse dunna wild duck, Middle Irish doun dark; see dusk
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for dun
v.
"to insist on payment of debt," 1620s, perhaps related to dunnen "to sound, resound, make a din" (c.1200, dialectal variant of din), or shortened from dunkirk (c.1600) "privateer," a private vessel licensed to attack enemy ships during wartime, from Dunkirk, French port from which they sailed. The oldest theory traces it to a Joe Dun, supposedly a London bailiff famous for catching defaulters. Related: Dunned; dunning. As a noun from 1620s.
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adj.
Old English dunn "dingy brown, dark-colored," perhaps from Celtic (cf. Old Irish donn "dark;" Gaelic donn "brown, dark;" Welsh dwnn "brownish"), from PIE *donnos, *dusnos "dark."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper