▪ I. nun, n.1
(nʌn)
Forms: α. 1–7 nunne, 5 nune, 4– nun (5 nunn, Sc. nwn). β. 3–6 nonne, 5–6 none (5 nonn, 6 noone).
[OE. nunne, = OHG. nunna (MHG. and mod.G. dial. nunne), ON. and (M)Sw. nunna; also ME. nonne (prob. a. OFr. nonne), = MDu. nonne (Du. non), MSw. nonna, Da. and G. nonne. The ultimate source is eccl. L. nonna, fem. of nonnus monk (in late Gr. νόννα, νόννος), originally a title given to elderly persons, whence It. nonno, nonna grandfather, grandmother, Sicilian nunnu, nunna father, mother, Sard. nonnu, nonna godfather, godmother.]
1. A woman devoted to a religious life under certain vows; usually, one who has vowed poverty, chastity, and obedience, and who lives in a convent under a certain rule, as in the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches.
| α c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. xxiii. (1890) 340 Wæs in þæm seolfan mynstre sumu haliᵹu nunne. c 1000 ælfric in Assmann Ags. Hom. (1889) iii. 368 Synd swa þeah þa wudewan..to nunnan ᵹehadode. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 963, He macode þær twa abbotrice, an of muneca, oðer of nunna. a 1225 Ancr. R. 316 Ich am on ancre, a nunne,..a meiden. c 1275 Sinners beware 169 in O.E. Misc. 77 Mvnekes and Nunnen Þat heom wyte ne kunnen From sucche lecherye Heo schule to helle cume. a 1300 Cursor M. 29284 Qua smites..munk, or frer, nun, or chanun,..he is cursd. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 62 Saue nunnes sloȝ he sykerly þe relygyous þat þar war. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 200 Rympled liche a nunnys veylle. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 360/2 Nune, womann of relygione, monialis, monacha. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 148 Monkys, frerys,..and nunnys, of the wych..ther ys no smal nombur. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 201 For my Daughters..They shall be praying Nunnes, not weeping Queenes. 1613 May Decl. Est. Clothing iv. 19 Then do they punish the clothier for that fault as the Frier whipt the Nun with a Fox taile. 1671 Woodhead St. Teresa ii. xxvi. 166 There was no perswading her to be a Quire-Nun, but a Lay-Sister. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iv. (1841) I. 78 Does my mother think to make a nun of me? 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xi, Vivaldi perceived a procession of nuns approaching from a distant aisle. 1838 Lytton Calderon iii, You may well look surprised, when actresses turn nuns. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 107 It seems to me you are shut up like a nun. |
| β c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 18 A Nonne þare was of on Abbeie. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8029 Scho ys nonne of relygion At Seint Petres kirke of þis toun. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 153, I haue an aunte to nonne and an abbesse bothe. 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 54, I will þat þ⊇ nonne þat kepid me in my seknes haue ij nobles. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 28 A lytel besyde the waye..stode a cloyster of black nonnes. 1491 ― Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 305 She is my nonne & yours & he named her so; bycause they named in lyke wyse the deuoute virgynes in that regyon. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clv. 187 Noones, hauynge no reuenewes aboue x.li. shall pay nothynge. c 1550 Bale K. Johan (Camden) 2 Monkes, Chanons & nones in dyvers coloure and shappe. 1594 Willobie Avisa xlii, She is no Saynt, She is no Nonne. |
b. A priestess or votaress of some pagan deity.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. iv. iv. 162 On ðære ilcan tide Caperronie wæs hatenu heora goda nunne. a 1400–50 Alexander 2179 (Dubl.), Zacora hym sayd, a semlych Nonn, Þar was none oþer answer. a 1547 Surrey æneid iv. 389 And whisketh through the town like Bachus nunne. 1598 Drayton Heroic. Ep. xiii. 175 Like one of Bacchus raging frantike Nunnes. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 765 The Nuns that keep the fire of Vesta as their lives. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Rebell. vi. §42 How much more Christian was that Athenian Nun in Plutarch. 1698 Houghton Husb. (ed. Bradley, 1727) II. 365 The law of the twelve tables prohibited all but the Emperor and Vestal Nuns to be bury'd within the city [Rome]. |
c. transf. A courtesan.
| 1770 Foote Lame Lover i. Wks. 1799 II. 60 An abbess, well known about town, with a smart little nun in her suite. 1825 C. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 167 The nuns of St. Clements. |
2. The name of various birds: a. The Blue Titmouse, Parus cæruleus.
| 1589 Higins tr. Junius' Nomenclator 60 Parus minor, a litle titmouse, called a Nunne, because his heade is filletted as it were Nunlike. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 262 The blue Titmouse or Nun: Parus cæruleus. 1774 G. White Selborne xli, The blue titmouse, or nun, is a great frequenter of houses, and a general devourer. 1843 Zoologist I. 215 Looking cautiously through a crevice, I saw a nun actively engaged in ferreting out the small white grub. 1903 Daily Graphic 31 Jan. 11/1 During the winter you generally see the tomtit..in his character of ‘the nun’. |
b. The Smew, Mergus albellus. [So G. nonne.]
| 1666 Merrett Pinax 183 Nun est avis aquatica quer⁓quedula paulo minor, Rostrum ei rotundum [etc.]. 1674 Ray Coll. Words, Water Fowl 95 This hath no English name known to me, unless it be that which Dr. Merret in his Pinax calls by the name of Nun: The Germans call it the White Nun. 1709 Phil. Trans. XXVI. 466 Mergus major cirratus, the Smew, or White Nun. 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 438. 1817 T. Forster Nat. Hist. Swallow Tribe (ed. 6) 93 Mergus albellus, Smew.., white Nun, Lough⁓diver. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 646 Nun.., the adult male Smew, from his delicate white and black plumage. |
c. A variety of the domestic pigeon.
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Pigeon, There are indeed many sorts of pigeons such as Helmets, Nuns, Tumblers, Barbs. 1735 J. Moore Columbarium 48 The Nun..is a bird somewhat larger than a Jacobine, her Plumage is very particular, and she seems to take her Name from it. 1868 Boy's Own Bk. 359 The Nun..attracts notice from the pleasing contrast in its feathers; its head is almost covered with a veil of white feathers, which gives it its name. |
d. = nun-bird. (Cent. Dict. 1890.)
3. A species of Venus-shell. rare—1.
| 1681 Grew Musæum i. vi. i. 138 Many of this sort, striated, are found, saith Mr. Lyster, near Hartle-pool in the County of Durham, where the People call them Nuns. |
4. A species of moth.
| 1832 Rennie Butterfl. & M. 96 The Nun... Wings one inch one-twelfth. 1890 Pall Mall G. 14 Aug. 4/3 The devastating moth, known as the ‘nun’, has made its appearance in north and west Germany. |
† 5. (See damsel 4.) Obs.
6. attrib. and Comb. a. Appositive, as nun-novice, nun-portress, nun-princess, nun-sister, etc.
| c 900 Wærferth tr. Gregory's Dial. 30 Be þære nunfæmnan, þe bat þone leahtric. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Prose) 147 Efter þis sal þat nun nouece stand stil befor þe auter. 1768 Baretti Mann. & Customs Italy II. 21 To get out of the convent at night by the connivance of the nun-portress. 1879 J. D. Long æneid I. 304 Till the nun-princess Ilia Bear unto Mars two children at a birth. 1892 Daily News 20 Oct. 5/7 To crown their sorrows, another nun-sister..had sunk under an attack of typhus. |
b. Miscellaneous: as nun-looking, nun-nature, etc.
| 1817 J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 90 These black eyes..took additional charms from the nun-looking wimple. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. xvi, The place they live in was some sort of nun-shop long ago. 1863 Kingsley in Reader Oct. 507 Theirs is the true nun-nature. 1872 Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 268 Soft nun-voices speaking French through grated doors. |
c. In genitive combs., as nun's cloth, a thin woollen stuff; nun's cotton = nun's thread; nun's fiddle (see quot.); † nun's flesh, a cold or ascetic temperament; nun's thread, a fine white sewing-cotton, such as is used by nuns; nun's veiling, a thin dress-stuff.
| 1884 Cassell's Mag. Mar. 246/1 *Nun's cloths are also now printed in chintz patterns. |
| 1903 Hughes Mus. Guide 213 *Nun's-fiddle, marine trumpet. |
| 1672 Dryden Assignation i. i, They that look for *Nuns flesh in me shall be mistaken. 1731–8 Swift Polite Conv. i, I'll be sworn Miss has not an Inch of Nun's Flesh about her. 1796 Windham Sp. (1812) I. 304 With no haste to privation of their own comforts, with not one bit of Nun's flesh about them. 1815 Zeluca III. 234 Lady Floray couldn't have been much of a girl when she did marry—if she was engaged eight years, she must have had a little nun's flesh about her. |
| 1766 W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 322, 1 small box *nuns thread. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iv. 140 The making of sewing-thread, known by the names of ‘ounce-thread’ and ‘nun's-thread’. |
| 1883 Truth 31 May 747/1 Lady Florence Maxwell's toilette was of cream *nun's veiling. |
▪ II. † nun, n.2 Obs. rare.
[Perh. the same as prec.]
A child's top. Also nun-gig.
| 1598 Florio, Turbine, a toppe, gigge or nunne that children plaie with, a whirlegigge. 1611 Cotgr., Sabot, a Top, Gig, or Nunne to whip, or play with. 1615 Markham Country Contentm. i. (1635) ii. 11 There be other Anglers which make their Corks [for floats] in the fashion of a Nun⁓gigge, small at both ends, and bigge in the middest. |
▪ III. nun, v. rare—1.
[f. nun n.1]
trans. To confine or shut up as in a nunnery.
| 1753–4 Richardson Grandison (1766) V. 45, I will have you to town, and nun you up with Aunt Nell. |