importune








verb (used with object), im·por·tuned, im·por·tun·ing.

  1. to press or beset with solicitations; demand with urgency or persistence.
  2. to make improper advances toward (a person).
  3. to beg for (something) urgently or persistently.
  4. Obsolete. to annoy.
  5. Obsolete. to press; impel.

verb (used without object), im·por·tuned, im·por·tun·ing.

  1. to make urgent or persistent solicitations.
  2. to make improper advances toward another person.

adjective

  1. importunate.

verb (tr)

  1. to harass with persistent requests; demand of (someone) insistently
  2. to beg for persistently; request with insistence
  3. obsolete
    1. to anger or annoy
    2. to force; impel
v.

1520s, back-formation from importunity, or else from Middle French importuner, from Medieval Latin importunari “to make oneself troublesome,” from Latin importunus “unfit, troublesome,” originally “having no harbor” (i.e. “difficult to access”), from assimilated form of in- “not, opposite of” (see in- (1)) + portus “harbor” (see port (n.1)). Related: Importuned; importuning. As an adjective from early 15c.

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