Meanings
din1
plural dins
- countableuncountableA loud noise; a cacophony or loud commotion.
din and bustle
5 more examples
Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?
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 ii][B]red to war, / He knew the battle’s din afar, / And joyed to hear it swell.
1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza IV, page 245How often, hither wandering down, My Arthur found your shadows fair, And shook to all the liberal air The dust and din and steam of town:
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto LXXXVII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 129The patter of feet, and clatter of strap and swivel, seemed to swell into a bewildering din, but they were almost upon the fielato offices, where the carretera entered the town, before a rifle flashed.
1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLCSo many faces Clive had never seen by daylight, and looking terrible, like cadavers jerked upright to welcome the newly dead. Invigorated by this jolt of misanthropy, he moved sleekly through the din, ignored his name when it was called, withdrew his elbow when it was plucked [...]
1998, Ian McEwan, Amsterdam, New York: Anchor, published 1999, Part 1, Chapter 1, pp. 9-10
din2
present singular third person dins · participle present dinning · participle past dinned · past dinned
- intransitiveTo make a din, to resound.
1820, William Wordsworth, “The Waggoner” Canto 2, in The Miscellaneous Poems of William Wordsworth, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Volume 2, p. 21, For, spite of rumbling of the wheels, A welcome greeting he can hear;— It is a fiddle in its glee Dinning from the CHERRY TREE!
3 more examples
My confused senses received a dull roar of pounding feet and dinning voices as the herald of victory.
1920, Zane Grey, “The Rube’s Pennant”, in The Redheaded Outfield and Other Baseball Stories, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 68Should she speak of having been at the fire herself—or should she not? The question dinned in her brain so loudly that she could hardly hear what her companion was saying […]
1924, Edith Wharton, chapter 4, in Old New York: New Year’s Day (The ’Seventies), New York: D. Appleton & Co., pages 62–63Those who slept that Sunday night in the Juvenile Shelter were wakened next morning by a bell dinning up and down the corridors[.]
1961, Xavier Herbert, Soldiers' Women, Netley, SA: Fontana Books, published 1978, page 231 - transitiveTo assail (a person, the ears) with loud noise.
No alarm-clock dinned her to get up but the morning light woke her, pouring through the uncurtained glass.
1938, Graham Greene, chapter 1, in Brighton Rock, New York: Vintage, published 20022 more examples
1716, Joseph Addison, The Free-Holder: or Political Essays, London: D. Midwinter & J. Tonson, No. 8, 16 January, 1716, pp. 45-46, She ought in such Cases to exert the Authority of the Curtain Lecture; and if she finds him of a rebellious Disposition, to tame him, as they do Birds of Prey, by dinning him in the Ears all Night long.
Oh ye! whose ears are dinn’d with uproar rude, Or fed too much with cloying melody,— Sit ye near some old cavern’s mouth, and brood Until ye start, as if the sea-nymphs quired!
1817, John Keats, “On the Sea”, in Richard Monckton Milnes, editor, Life, Letters, and Literary Remains, of John Keats, volume 2, London: Edward Moxon, published 1848, page 291 - transitiveTo repeat (something) continuously, as though to the point of deafening or exhausting somebody, or (sometimes particularly) to impress or instill (it, into someone).
This has been often dinned in my Ears.
1724, The Hibernian Patriot: Being a Collection of the Drapier’s Letters to the People of Ireland concerning Mr. Wood’s Brass Half-Pence, London: Jonathan Swift, published 1730, Letter 2, p. 614 more examples
“Mamma, do you forget that I have promised to marry Roger Hamley?” said Cynthia quietly. “No! of course I don’t—how can I, with Molly always dinning the word ‘engagement’ into my ears? […]”
1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, chapter 50, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLCBy careful early conditioning, by games and cold water, by the rubbish that was dinned into them at school and in the Spies and the Youth League, by lectures, parades, songs, slogans, and martial music, the natural feeling had been driven out of them.
1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 6, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001His mother had dinned The Whole Duty of Man into him in early childhood.
2004, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Penguin, page 183[…] despite all the wisdom that had been taught, all the lessons dinned into easily frightened children, and, on too many occasions in all those years, enforced by fire and sword, the mystery here was one of and for women.
2014 April 1, Susan Shwartz, Shards of Empire, Open Road Media, →ISBNSynonyms: drum
din3
- alternativeuncountableIslamAlternative spelling of deen (“religion, faith, religiosity”).
DIN4
- The German Institute for Standardization.
Din5
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo repeat (something) continuously, as though to the point of deafening or exhausting somebody, or (sometimes particularly) to impress or instill (it, into someone).
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe act of making a noisy disturbance
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
din · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰún-is
- Proto-Germanic*duniz
- Proto-West Germanic*duni
- Old Englishdyne
- Middle Englishdyne
- Englishdin
From Middle English dyne, dynne, from Old English dyne, from Proto-West Germanic *duni, from Proto-Germanic *duniz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰún-is, from *dʰwen- (“to make a noise”). Cognate with English tone, Sanskrit धुनि (dhúni, “sounding”), ध्वनति (dhvánati, “to make a noise, to roar”), Old Norse dynr, Norwegian Nynorsk dynja, Swedish dån, dön.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →din · verb
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰwen-“to make a noise”
- Proto-Germanic*dunjaną
- Old Englishdynnan
- Middle Englishdynnen
- Englishdin
From Middle English dynnen, from Old English dynnan, from Proto-Germanic *dunjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwen- (“to make a noise”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →DIN · proper noun
- GermanDIN
- GermanDIN
- EnglishDIN
Borrowed from German DIN.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Din · proper noun
- Khmerឌិន
- EnglishDin
From Khmer ឌិន (dɨn).
More words from Khmer
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek κέλαδος, ὅμαδος
- κέλαδος (kélados)loud noise
- ὅμαδος (hómados)loud noise
Bulgarian врява, глъчка
- врява (vrjava)loud noise
- глъчка (glăčka)loud noise
Catalan rebombori
- rebomboriloud noise
Chinese Mandarin 耳鳴 /耳鸣, 吵鬧 /吵闹
- 耳鳴 /耳鸣 (ěrmíng)loud noise
- 吵鬧 /吵闹 (chǎonào)loud noise
Czech hluk, rámus
- hlukloud noise
- rámusloud noise
- kraválloud noise
- hlučetto make noise
- dělat rámusto make noise
- ohlušovatto assail with noise
- hučet (do koho)to repeat continuously
Dutch lawaai, geschreeuw
- lawaailoud noise
- geschreeuwloud noise
Finnish meteli, metakka
- meteliloud noise
- metakkaloud noise
- mekkalaloud noise
French vacarme, boucan
- vacarmeloud noise
- boucanloud noise
German Lärm, Krach
- Lärmloud noise
- Krachloud noise
Irish gleo, fothram
- gleoloud noise
- fothramloud noise
Italian baccano, frastuono
- baccanoloud noise
- frastuonoloud noise
- schiamazzoloud noise
- strepitioloud noise
Japanese 騒音
- 騒音 (sōon)loud noise
Korean 소음
- 소음 (so'eum)loud noise
Latin strepitus, clāmor
- strepitusloud noise
- clāmorloud noise
Māori tararau, matioke
- tararauloud noise
- matiokeloud noise
Norwegian drønn
- drønnloud noise
Polish hałas, gwar
- hałasloud noise
- gwarloud noise
- zgiełkloud noise
- rumorloud noise
Portuguese estrépido, algazarra
- estrépidoloud noise
- algazarraloud noise
- clamorloud noise
Russian гул, шум
- гул (gul)loud noise
- шум (šum)loud noise
- гвалт (gvalt)loud noise
- гро́хот (gróxot)loud noise
- галдёж (galdjóž)loud noise
Spanish estruendo
- estruendoloud noise
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with din
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
din. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/din
“din.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/din. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “din,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/din.
Source: din on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.