importune

See also: importuné

English

WOTD – 25 November 2011

Etymology

From Middle French importuner, from Medieval Latin importūnor (“to make oneself troublesome”), from Latin importūnus (“unfit, troublesome”), originally "having no harbor".

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪmpɔɹˈtuːn/

Verb

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

1. 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. 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, [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. To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
4. (obsolete) 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.

Translations

to harass with persistent requests

• Bulgarian: досаждам (bg) (dosaždam), натрапвам се (natrapvam se)
• Finnish: udella (fi) (for information), anella (fi) (for goods or services)
• Galician: importunar (gl), abafar (gl)
• German: bedrängen (de), belästigen (de)
• Maori: patete, unene
• Portuguese: importunar (pt), incomodar (pt)
• Russian: домога́ться (ru) (domogátʹsja), надоеда́ть (ru) (nadojedátʹ), приставать (ru) (pristavatʹ)
• Spanish: importunar (es)
• Swedish: besvära (sv)
• Turkish: sıkboğaz etmek, üstelemek (tr), dadanmak (tr)

to make improper proposals

• Bulgarian: предлагам се (predlagam se)
• Finnish: ahdistella (fi)
• Spanish: prostituirse (es)

Adjective

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.

Related terms

• importunate

Anagrams

• entropium, Petronium

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

importune

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

Italian

Adjective

importune f pl

1. feminine plural of importuno

Anagrams

• impunterò, premunito

Latin

Adjective

importūne

1. vocative masculine singular of importūnus

References

• “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.

Portuguese

Verb

importune

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

Spanish

Verb

importune

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