dun (v.)
"to insist on payment of debt," 1620s, also as a noun, "agent employed to collect debts," of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle English 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, the 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 "dull; dark brown; dark;" Welsh dwnn "brownish"), from PIE *donnos, *dusnos "dark." As a noun, "dun color," 1560s; as "a dun horse" from late 14c. The "horse" meaning is that the figurative expression dun is in the mire "things are at a standstill or deadlocked," which occurs in both Chaucer and Shakespeare. Dun also is likely the origin of the surnames Dunn, Dunne, Donne, Dunning, etc.
Trends of dun
updated on October 18, 2018
