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Don

//dɒn// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A diminutive of the male given names Donald or Gordon.

    "The bill, which lawmakers approved in a 211-206 vote, now moves to the Republican-led Senate for consideration. One Republican, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, voted with Democrats Thursday against the measure."

  2. 2
    A river, the fifth-longest in Europe, in Tula, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Volgograd and Rostov Oblasts, Russia, flowing 1160 miles to the Sea of Azov.

    "Thence they marched againſt Orna, a Port Towne on the Riuer Don, where were many Gazarians, Alanians, Ruſſians, and Saracens, which he drowned with the Riuer running through the Citie, turning it out of the chanell."

  3. 3
    A river in Aberdeenshire council area, Scotland, United Kingdom, flowing 62 miles to the North Sea at Aberdeen.
  4. 4
    A surname.
  5. 5
    A river in South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, on which Doncaster is situated.
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  1. 6
    A minor river in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom, which joins the Tyne at Jarrow.
  2. 7
    A river in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, named after the River Don in Yorkshire.
  3. 8
    A locality in the City of Devonport, Tasmania, Australia.
Noun
  1. 1
    A university professor, particularly one at Oxford or Cambridge. UK

    "No one feeds at the high table except the dons and the gentlemen-commoners, who are undergraduates in velvet caps and silk gowns[.]"

  2. 2
    dissolved organic nitrogen uncountable
  3. 3
    a Spanish courtesy title or form of address for men that is prefixed to the forename wordnet
  4. 4
    An employee of a university residence who lives among the student residents. Canada
  5. 5
    Abbreviation of deoxynivalenol, a toxic byproduct of Fusarium head blight of barley. abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable
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  1. 6
    a Spanish gentleman or nobleman wordnet
  2. 7
    A mafia boss, primarily for Italian or Italian American bosses.
  3. 8
    the head of an organized crime family wordnet
  4. 9
    A (usually Spanish or Italian) title of respect to a man, especially a lord or nobleman.

    "Wo often of an evening go and hear the band in the square opposite the captin-giniral’s palace—it is here were the dons and donnas and all the fashionables assemble, and I must say it’s amusing."

  5. 10
    teacher at a university or college (especially at Cambridge or Oxford) wordnet
  6. 11
    Any man, bloke, dude. Multicultural-London-English

    "I’m confused like who’s this don .22 bells and that who’s on"

Verb
  1. 1
    To put on clothing; to dress (oneself) in an article of personal attire. transitive

    "To don one's clothes."

  2. 2
    put clothing on one's body wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Latin dominus (“lord, head of household”), akin to Italian don, Sicilian don, Spanish don; from domus (“house”). Doublet of dom, domine, dominie, and dominus.

Etymology 2

From Middle English don (“to put on”), from Old English dōn on; equivalent to do + on. Compare also doff, dup, dout.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Russian and Ukrainian Дон (Don). Known in Ancient Greece and Rome as Latin Tanais, Ancient Greek Τάναϊς (Tánaïs).

Etymology 4

Probably from the common Celtic river name Proto-Celtic *Dānu << Proto-Indo-European *dʰenh₂-, found in many other river names such as Danube, and Dniester. Connected with the Welsh river goddess Dôn, whose name is from the same origin, though it could have been influenced by Welsh dawn (“gift”), Irish dán (“gift, offering”), Latin dōnum.

Etymology 5

* As an English and Scottish surname, variant of Dunn. * Also as an English and Scottish surname, from Dun, a place in Scotland. * As an Italian surname, variant of Dono, shortened from dono di Dio (“gift of God”). * As a Galician surname, from a nickname derived from don (“kindness, favor”). * As a Hungarian surname, variant of Donát, Donath. * As a French surname of Germanic origin, from the old name Dodo, related to Dodier, from the name Dodhari, the first element a reduplicated word of arbitrary origin and the second from *hari (“army”). * Also as a French surname, from the place Don in Nord. * As a Jewish surname, from a variant of Dan. * As a Chinese surname, Romanized from 曾, see Zeng. * As a Vietnamese surname Đôn, possibly from Chinese 敦, see Dun.

See also for "don"

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