DUN

A very importunate creditor. Dunny, in the provincial dialect of several counties in England, signifies deaf ; to dun, then, perhaps may mean to deafen with importunate demands ; it may have been derived from the word donnez , which signifies give . But the word undoubtedly originated in the days of one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, England, who was so extremely active and dexterous in his busine , that it became a proverb, when a man refused to pay, to say, "Why don't you Dun him?" that is, send Dun after him. Hence it became a cant word, and is now as old as the days of Henry VII. Dun was also the name for the hangman, before that of Jack Ketch. "And presently a halter got, Made of the best strong hempen teer, And ere a cat could lick her ear, Had tied it up with as much art, As Dun himself could do for's heart." Cotton's Virgil Trav. Book IV. IMG:1257922568034261914_i_028fp.jpg: