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dun

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A dull gray-brown color. It is often used in older poetry to describe clouds, animals, or landscapes.

Detailed Definition
Dun is a literary color word for a muted gray-brown shade. Campbell uses it in "war-clouds, rolling dun" to create a bleak, smoky atmosphere over the battlefield. The word is still understandable from context, but it is uncommon enough that many readers would pause over it.
Example
Example in poetry:
“War-clouds, rolling dun” uses dun for a dull gray-brown color; Thomas Hardy’s landscapes frequently favor muted, wintry tones akin to dun; “Dun hills blurred into the sheep-filled rain” shows its natural-world use; “The dun uniform vanished in dust” lets the adjective suggest camouflage, fatigue, and war
Additional Notes
The phrase "rolling dun" uses an uncommon color adjective that many readers would need to look up.; Found in the poem, Hohenlinden by Thomas Campbell
Also Known As
gray ashen leaden muted
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