dons

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of don.

   The surgeon dons a fresh gown and gloves before each operation.

   When the weather turns cold, he dons a heavy wool coat for the walk to work.

   Note

   Don is strictly transitive, so this form always arrives with the garment it puts on: the surgeon dons a fresh gown, the guard dons his helmet. A sentence cannot stop at dons. Put on says the same and, unlike don, can split around its object: she puts her coat on.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of don.

   Several Cambridge dons signed a letter opposing the new admissions rules.

   In old gangster movies, rival mafia dons carve up the city between them.

   Note

   One plural for several quite different people: university teachers, above all at Oxford and Cambridge; in Canada, the staff who live among students in a residence; mafia bosses; men honored with the title, usually Spanish or Italian; and, in Multicultural London English, simply men in general. Only context tells them apart, and the same spelling also serves the verb for putting on clothes.

3. 3
   noun

   Plural of dom, the title borne by Portuguese and Brazilian nobility.

   The Portuguese dons who owned the vineyards rarely visited them.

   At the imperial court in Brazil, the dons took their places according to rank.

   Note

   Here the singular is dom, not don: a title once borne by the high nobility of Portugal and Brazil and given there to royalty and senior churchmen as well. The plural looks exactly like the plural of don, so only a Portuguese or Brazilian setting tells a reader which title is meant.

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