importune

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmpɔːˈtjuːn/, /ɪmˈpɔːtjuːn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪmpɔɹˈtuːn/

From Middle French importuner and its etymon Medieval Latin importūnor (“to make oneself troublesome”), from Latin importūnus (“unfit, troublesome”), originally "having no harbor".^[1]

importune (third-person singular simple present importunes, present participle importuning, simple past and past participle importuned)

1. (transitive) To bother, irritate, trouble.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter XVII, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     To deliberate, be it but in slight matters, doth importune me.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 155:

     But I will no longer importune my young cousin.

2. (transitive) To harass with persistent requests.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 210, column 2, lines 50–51:

     Gentlemen, importune me no farther, / For hovv I firmly am reſolu'd you knovv: / That is, not to beſtovv my yongeſt daughter, / Before I haue a husband for the elder: […]

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 7, column 1:

     You were kneel'd to, & importun'd otherwiſe / By all of vs; […]

   • 1711 December 8 (Gregorian calendar), [Jonathan Swift], The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in Beginning and Carrying on the Present War, 4th edition, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC, page 57:

     [W]e have been obliged to hire Troops from ſeveral Princes of the Empire, whoſe Ministers and Reſidents here, have perpetually importuned the Court with unreaſonable Demands, under which our late Miniſters thought fit to be Paſſive.

3. (transitive) To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To import; to signify.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 16:

     It importunes death.

From Middle English importune, inportune, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French importun and its etymon Classical Latin importūnus.^[2]

importune (comparative more importune, superlative most importune)

1. (obsolete) Grievous, severe, exacting.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     And therewithall he fiercely at him flew, / And with importune outrage him assayld [...].

2. (obsolete) Inopportune; unseasonable.
3. (obsolete) Troublesome; vexatious; persistent.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 44:

     And their importune fates all satisfide.

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Envy”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     Of all other affections it [envy] is the most importune and continual.

• importunely

• importunate

importune (plural importunes)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of importuner.
   • 1589, [George Puttenham], “Of Decencie in Behauiour Which Also Belongs to the Consideration of the Poet or Maker”, in The Arte of English Poesie. […], London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, pages 247–248:

     And yet in ſome Courts it is otherwiſe vſed, for in Spaine it is thought very vndecent for a Courtier to craue, ſuppoſing that it is the part of an importune: […]

   • a. 1735, Roger North, “The Times Clearing Up, and How”, in Examen: or, An Enquiry into the Credit and Veracity of a Pretended Complete History; […], London: […] Fletcher Gyles […], published 1740, →OCLC, part III, page 644:

     Which ſhew that importunate People will affirm any Thing, to ſerve Turns, though never fo ſenſeleſs; hoping ſome, that underſtand little, or are very willing, will give credit upon their Authority: And, if Juſtice muſt ſtay till ſuch Importunes are ſatisfied, there’s a ne plus ultra of all Law.

   • 1813 August 12, Lady Hester Stanhope, The Nun of Lebanon: The Love Affair of Lady Hester Stanhope and Michael Bruce: Their Newly Discovered Letters, London: Collins […], published 1951, →OCLC, page 282:

     The Priests of the Holy Land sent me a letter he had written them about me thanking them for their civility to me, & desiring they wd. serve me in every thing &c, therefore these confounded importunes laid themselves at my feet, but his letter was admirable, nobody ever saw such a thing, his coats of Arms printed upon a paper as large as a gazette extraordinary and full as large as my hand open!!!

• entropium, Petronium

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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importune

1. inflection of importuner:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

importune f pl

1. feminine plural of importuno

• impunterò, premunito

importūne

1. vocative masculine singular of importūnus

• “importune”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “importune”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “importune”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

importune

1. inflection of importunar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

importune

1. inflection of importunar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative