1. In the United Kingdom, a university or college teacher: A don, or professor, instructs at one of the universities of Oxford or Cambridge in England.
2. A Spanish gentleman or aristocrat: Some people remember California in the days of the dons.
3. A head of an organized crime family, especially in the Mafia: A don, or male boss, was found in a cafe in Italy.
4. Etymology: don, as a noun, comes from the 1520's, from Spanish or Portuguese don, a title of respect; which came from Latin dominus, "lord, master".

The university sense appeared about 1660 when it was originally part of student slang. The underworld or criminal sense came about 1952, from Italian don, from Late Latin domnus, which came from Latin dominus. The feminne forms are Dona (Spanish and Portuguese) and Donna (Italian).

1. To put on a piece of clothing on to one's body: Jane donned on a beautiful silk dress that her mother made especially for her.
2. To assume or to take on an attitude or to show one's feelings especially of grief or anger in a demonstrative way: He donned the manner of the injured party when he was not chosen.
3. Etymology: The verbal form of don appeared in about the early 14th century which came from Middle English as a contraction of do on, "put on".

On the April 4, 2007, edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus referred to the Rutgers University women's basketball team, which is comprised of eight African-American and two white players, as "nappy-headed hos".

Immediately after that, the show's executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, called the team "hard-core hos."

Later, former Imus sports announcer Sid Rosenberg, who was filling in for sportscaster Chris Carlin, said: "The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the [National Basketball Association's] Toronto Raptors."

Imus' McGuirk on "young colored fellah" Obama "pretty much deckin' the old bag from New York"

On the March 16, 2007, edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, executive producer Bernard McGuirk, performing as his character "Cardinal Egan," said that "the whole nation is talking about" reports of a "young colored fellah pretty much deckin' the old bag from New York and takin' away some of her money."

McGuirk continued: "I'm speaking, of course, about [Sens.] Barack Obama [D-IL] and Hillary Clinton [D-NY]."