dun1

[duhn] /dʌn/
verb (used with object), dunned, dunning.
1.
to make repeated and insistent demands upon, especially for the payment of a debt.
noun
2.
a person, especially a creditor, who duns another.
3.
a demand for payment, especially a written one.
Origin
1620-30; origin obscure

dun2

[duhn] /dʌn/
adjective
1.
dull, grayish brown.
2.
dark; gloomy.
noun
3.
a dun color.
4.
a dun-colored horse with a black mane and tail.
5.
mayfly.
6.
Angling. dun fly.
Origin
before 1000; Middle English dun(ne), Old English dunn; cognate with Old Saxon dun
Related forms
dunness, noun
Examples from the web for dun
  • There are now programs that spot fraudulent workers' comp claims and others that help dun deadbeats for collection agencies.
British Dictionary definitions for dun

dun1

/dʌn/
verb duns, dunning, dunned
1.
(transitive) to press or importune (a debtor) for the payment of a debt
noun
2.
a person, esp a hired agent, who importunes another for the payment of a debt
3.
a demand for payment, esp one in writing
Word Origin
C17: of unknown origin

dun2

/dʌn/
noun
1.
a brownish-grey colour
2.
a horse of this colour
3.
(angling)
  1. an immature adult mayfly (the subimago), esp one of the genus Ephemera
  2. an artificial fly imitating this or a similar fly
adjective dunner, dunnest
4.
of a dun colour
5.
dark and gloomy
Word Origin
Old English dunn; related to Old Norse dunna wild duck, Middle Irish doun dark; see dusk
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.

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."