Doon

Part of speech: adverb, preposition

Definitions

1. A Scottish dialect word meaning downward or at a lower place ; a river in southwest Scotland that flows through Ayrshire to the Firth of Clyde
2. Used in Scots speech to mean down or towards a lower position ; the name of a river running through Ayrshire in southwestern Scotland
3. The Scottish form of the word down, indicating a lower direction or position ; a Scottish river in Ayrshire that empties into the sea near Ayr

Etymology: "Doon" is a Scots and northern English form of "down," the adverb and preposition meaning from a higher to a lower position. The Scots spelling reflects a Scots pronunciation in which the vowel of "down" is the long "oo" sound rather than the diphthong of standard English, and it is used in the same range of senses: "doon the stair," "come doon," and so on. It is also a form of "dun," a word with a separate history. In that sense it is linked to the Scottish and northern English sounds of "dun," meaning a dark greyish-brown colour, and to "dun" as a verb meaning to demand payment persistently. Readers meeting the spelling in Scots writing usually need only the first sense, since context makes the meaning clear.

Synonyms: down

Antonyms: up