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Spurn - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Spurn : \Spurn\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spurned; p. pr. & vb. n.
Spurning.] [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over,
AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG.
spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise, Skr.
sphur to jerk, to push. [root]171. See Spur.]
1. To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick.
[The bird] with his foot will spurn adown his cup.
--Chaucer.
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. --Shak.
2. To reject with disdain; to scorn to receive or accept; to
treat with contempt.
What safe and nicely I might well delay By rule of
knighthood, I disdain and spurn. --Shak.
Domestics will pay a more cheerful service when they
find themselves not spurned because fortune has laid
them at their master's feet. --Locke.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Spurn : \Spurn\, v. i.
1. To kick or toss up the heels.
The miller spurned at a stone. --Chaucer.
The drunken chairman in the kennel spurns. --Gay.
2. To manifest disdain in rejecting anything; to make
contemptuous opposition or resistance.
Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image.
--Shak.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Spurn : \Spurn\, n.
1. A kick; a blow with the foot. [R.]
What defence can properly be used in such a
despicable encounter as this but either the slap or
the spurn? --Milton.
2. Disdainful rejection; contemptuous tratment.
The insolence of office and the spurns That patient
merit of the unworthy takes. --Shak.
3. (Mining) A body of coal left to sustain an overhanding
mass.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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