dun

pronunciation

How to pronounce dun in British English: UK [dʌn] word uk audio image

How to pronounce dun in American English: US [dʌn] word us audio image

Noun:

horse of a dull brownish gray color
a color varying around light grayish brown
Verb:

treat cruelly
persistently ask for overdue payment
cure by salting
make a dun color
Adjective:

of a dull grayish brown to brownish gray color

Word Origin

dun: dun: English has two words dun. The colour adjective, ‘greyish brown’ [OE], comes ultimately from Indo-European *donnos, *dusnos, which is also the source of English dusk. The now rather dated noun, ‘debtcollector’ [17], is an abbreviation of dunkirk, a 17th-century term for a ‘privateer’, a privately owned vessel officially allowed to attack enemy shipping during wartime.It was originally applied from such privateers that sailed from the port of Dunkirk, on the northern coast of France, to attack British ships, and its connotations of unwarranted piracy soon spread metaphorically to one who was constantly importuning for the repayment of his loan.=> donkey, dusk, obfuscate

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.

dun (adj.): Old English dunn "dingy brown, dark-colored," perhaps from Celtic (compare Old Irish donn "dark;" Gaelic donn "brown, dark;" Welsh dwnn "brownish"), from PIE *donnos, *dusnos "dark."

1. In the end of 2009 frog wined the eighth mao dun prize for literature on august 2011 .

2. Mao dun launched the semimonthly literary position in 1938 , and edited from the first 18 issues .

4. I have had many patrols probe for jump signals between dun ni city and redhill ridge .

5. Listen to clips on the metropolitan opera site and you 'll understand the difference between a questionable tan dun opera and a delightful mozart classic in less than a minute .