Citations:importune

English citations of importune

1. To entreat earnestly or repeatedly.
   • c.1599-1601, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,

     My lord, he hath importuned me with love

     In honourable fashion.

   • 1833, Charles Sturt, Two expeditions into the interior of Southern Australia,

     A little below it, we found a large tribe anxiously awaiting our arrival. They crowded to the margin of the river with great eagerness, and evinced more surprise at our appearance than any tribe we had seen during the journey; but we left them very soon, notwithstanding that they importuned us much to stay.

   • 1852, William Wells Brown, Three Years in Europe,

     In the most persuasive manner possible, Mary again importuned George to avail himself of her assistance to escape from an ignominious death.

   • 1857, A. M. Rosborough, George L. Curry (editor), letter published in Oregon and Washington Volunteers, 1859,

     They reported that they were first importuned to join in the attack, and when they refused again and again they were threatened by the other tribes with extermination; upon which they withdrew, and the council broke up in a row.

   • 1919, Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus,

     They importuned me for permission to go out at times when a single glance at the fog and rain showed the foolishness of such a request.

2. To bother; to harass.
   • 1663 September 5, Samuel Pepys, Diary of Samuel Pepys (published 1893),

     So at noon to the Exchange, and so home to dinner, where I met Creed, who dined with me, and after dinner mightily importuned by Captain Hicks, who came to tell my wife the names and story of all the shells, which was a pretty present he made her the other day.

   • 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark,

     But if I were importuned by their curiosity, their friendly gestures gratified me.

   • 1837, Washington Irving, The Adventures of Captain Bonneville,

     The men, however, were by no means so shy and reserved; but importuned Captain Bonneville and his companions excessively by their curiosity. Nothing escaped their notice; and any thing they could lay their hands on underwent the most minute examination. To get rid of such inquisitive neighbors, the travellers kept on for a considerable distance, before they encamped for the night.

   • 1902, Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision,

     But another thought importuned him. He had left Turin without news of Vivaldi or Fulvia, and without having done anything to conjure the peril to which his rashness had exposed them.

3. To solicit for sexual purposes.
   • 1867-1885, Tertullian, Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (translators and editors), Ante-Nicene Fathers,

     Importuned by the unchaste queen, when he refused to comply with her desire, she turned upon him and reported him to the king, by whom he is put into prison.

   • date required, Suetonius, J. C. Rolfe (translator), The Lives of the Twelve Caesars,

     When he was importuned by a woman, who said that she was dying for love for him, he took her to his bed and gave her four hundred thousand sesterces for her favours.