dun1
adj.
of a dull greyish-brown colour.
n.
- a dull greyish-brown colour.
- a horse with a sandy coat, black mane, tail, and lower legs, and a dark dorsal stripe.
- a subadult mayfly with drab, opaque wings, or a fishing fly imitating this.
Etymology
OE dun, dunn, of Gmc origin; prob. rel. to dusk.
dun2
v.
(duns, dunning, dunned)
make persistent demands on (someone) for payment of a debt.
n.
archaic a debt collector or an insistent creditor.
Etymology
C17 (as n.): perh. from obs. Dunkirk privateer (with connotations of piratical demands), or from the name of a Joe Dun, a well-known bailiff.
dun3
n.
Archaeology (often in place names) a stone-built fortified settlement in Scotland or Ireland, of a kind built from the late Iron Age to the early Middle Ages.
Etymology
C18: from Ir. dún, Sc. Gaelic dùn ‘hill or hill fort’.
