Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Don

Don (dŏn), n. [Sp. don; akin to Pg. dom, It. donno; fr. L. dominus master. See Dame, and cf. Domine, Dominie, Domino, Dan, Dom.] 1. Sir; Mr; Signior; — a title in Spain, formerly given to noblemen and gentlemen only, but now common to all classes.

Don is used in Italy, though not so much as in Spain. France talks of Dom Calmet, England of Dan Lydgate. Oliphant.

2. A grand personage, or one making pretension to consequence; especially, the head of a college, or one of the fellows at the English universities. [Univ. Cant] "The great dons of wit." Dryden.

Don, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Donned (dŏnd); p. pr. & vb. n. Donning.] [Do + on; — opposed to doff. See Do, v. t., 7.] To put on; to dress in; to invest one's self with.

Should I don this robe and trouble you. Shak.

At night, or in the rain, He dons a surcoat which he doffs at morn. Emerson.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.