Library / English Dictionary

DUN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: dunned    , dunner    , dunnest    , dunning   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Horse of a dull brownish grey color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("dun" is a kind of...):

mount; riding horse; saddle horse (a lightweight horse kept for riding only)

Derivation:

dun (make a dun color)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A color or pigment varying around a light grey-brown color

Example:

she wore dun

Synonyms:

dun; fawn; grayish brown; greyish brown

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("dun" is a kind of...):

light brown (a brown that is light but unsaturated)

Derivation:

dun (make a dun color)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of a dull greyish brown to brownish grey color

Example:

the dun and dreary prairie

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a dun color

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "dun" is one way to...):

darken (make dark or darker)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

dun (horse of a dull brownish grey color)

dun (a color or pigment varying around a light grey-brown color)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cure by salting

Example:

dun codfish

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "dun" is one way to...):

cure (prepare by drying, salting, or chemical processing in order to preserve)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Persistently ask for overdue payment

Example:

The grocer dunned his customers every day by telephone

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "dun" is one way to...):

demand (request urgently and forcefully)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 4

Meaning:

Treat cruelly

Example:

The children tormented the stuttering teacher

Synonyms:

bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "dun" is one way to...):

beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke (annoy continually or chronically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dun"):

madden (drive up the wall; go on someone's nerves)

hamstring (make ineffective or powerless)

badger; beleaguer; bug; pester; tease (annoy persistently)

oppress; persecute (cause to suffer)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

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