don1
/dɒn
/noun
1British A university teacher, especially a senior member of a college at Oxford or Cambridge.He worked easily with the many newcomers into his department, most of them university dons....
- The indication that Oxford might have to consider implementing similar measures has been greeted with caution by University officials, dons, and students alike.
- As a don at the local university, he reviewed regularly for the Glasgow Herald.
Synonyms
university teacher, (university) lecturer, fellow, professor, reader, lector, college tutor, academic, scholar
informal egghead
(dons) British senior common room
2 (Don) A Spanish title prefixed to a male forename.Carmen pleads ‘Let me go’ to a Don José....
- There is probably room for a touch more earthiness, a little more hardness in her approach to a Don José who is always going to be putty in her hands.
- Others see him as a Don Quixote-like noble, if naive, figure who sacrificed his political career rather than abandon his aspiration.
2.1A Spanish gentleman.She imagined a Spanish don living here in the 1800s, and building a stately hacienda in stages as his family grew....
- The Perdido Star eventually reaches Cuba, where young Jack's parents are murdered by the requisite villainous Spanish don.
- In the first half of the fifteenth century, Gutierre Diaz de Gámez wrote an account of the deeds of his lord don Pero Nino, count of Buelna.
2.2North American informal A high-ranking member of the Mafia.The final straw was when she was sent to kill a mafia don....
- Instead, like a mafia don in a witness protection program, he will have to leave his current life and construct a brand new one.
- That's the same maximum sentence a mafia don gets for threatening a witness.
Derivatives
donship
- Victoria College has recently changed its policy regarding donships, now allowing third-years to apply.
- It was my intention from an early age to aspire to a quiet life of letters, an Oxford donship, if possible, with the occasional slim volume privately printed every couple of years.
- To do this, a position was designed that combines the attractive features of the donship without the features of the floor senior position.
Origin
Early 16th century (in sense 2): from Spanish, from Latin dominus 'lord, master'.
Rhymes
don2
/dɒn/verb (dons, donning, donned) [with object]
Put on (an item of clothing): in the dressing room the players donned their football shirts...
- At his urging, I donned protective clothing and headed off in search of this tragic new affliction.
- But he was nevertheless disgruntled that he himself would not be donning the shirt.
- Most fans are content with donning a replica shirt and attending the odd game.
Synonyms
put on, get dressed in, dress (oneself) in, pull on, climb into, get into, fling on, throw on, slip into, slip on, change into, rig oneself out in, clothe oneself in, array oneself in, deck oneself out in, accoutre oneself in, put round one's shoulders, put on one's head
informal tog oneself up/out in, doll oneself up in, pour oneself into
Origin
Late Middle English: contraction of do on. Compare with doff.
Don3
/dɒn/1A river in Russia which rises near Tula, south-east of Moscow, and flows for a distance of 1,958 km (1,224 miles) to the Sea of Azov.
2A river in Scotland which rises in the Grampians and flows 131 km (82 miles) eastwards to the North Sea at Aberdeen.
3A river in northern England which rises in the Pennines and flows 112 km (70 miles) eastwards to join the Ouse shortly before it, in turn, joins the Humber.