I. ˈdän noun
( -s )
Etymology: Spanish, from Latin dominus, master, lord — more at dame
1.
a. : lord , sir — prefixed to the Christian name of a Spaniard of high rank
b.
(1) : senor — used among Spanish-speaking people prefixed to the Christian name as a courtesy title
(2) : master — used as a form of address for an Italian priest
2. often capitalized : a Spaniard or man of Spanish descent
he played on Jackson's obsession against the Spanish by promising to drive the dons from America — C.G.Bowers
3.
a. archaic : a great or famous person : a person of consequence : grandee
the great dons of wit — John Dryden
b. : a head, tutor, or fellow in an English university
she didn't want to be a don ' s wife and live in Oxford forever — Virginia Woolf
broadly : a college or university teacher
II. transitive verb
( donned ; donned ; donning ; dons )
Etymology: contraction of do + on
1.
a. : to put on (an article of wear) : dress in
donned the robes of his office
b. : to apply (as greasepaint) to the face or body
c. : to insert (a cone) in the holder in a textile machine
2. : to clothe or envelop oneself in : assume
able to don the personality of another person
perhaps the truest understanding would come from the donning of new and more tyrannous moralities — Edward Sapir