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Webster 1913 Edition


Deign

Deign

(dān)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Deigned
(dānd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Deigning
.]
[OE.
deinen
,
deignen
, OF.
degner
,
deigner
,
daigner
, F.
daigner
, fr. L.
dignari
to deem worthy, deign, fr.
dignus
worthy; akin to
decere
to be fitting. See
Decent
, and cf.
Dainty
,
Dignity
,
Condign
,
Disdain
.]
1.
To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; – opposed to disdain.
[Obs.]
I fear my Julia would not
deign
my lines.
Shakespeare
2.
To condescend to give or bestow; to stoop to furnish; to vouchsafe; to allow; to grant.
Nor would we
deign
him burial of his men.
Shakespeare

Deign

,
Verb.
I.
To think worthy; to vouchsafe; to condescend; - - followed by an infinitive.
O
deign
to visit our forsaken seats.
Pope.
Yet not Lord Cranstone
deigned
she greet.
Sir W. Scott.
Round turned he, as not
deigning

Those craven ranks to see.
Macaulay.
In early English deign was often used impersonally.
Him
deyneth
not to set his foot to ground.
Chaucer.

Webster 1828 Edition


Deign

DEIGN

,
Verb.
I.
Dane. To think worthy; to vouchsafe; to condescend.
O deign to visit our foraken seats.

DEIGN

,
Verb.
T.
dane. To grant or allow; to condescend to give to.

Definition 2024


deign

deign

English

Verb

deign (third-person singular simple present deigns, present participle deigning, simple past and past participle deigned)

  1. (intransitive) To condescend; to do despite a perceived affront to one's dignity.
    He didn't even deign to give us a nod of the head; he thought us that far beneath him.
  2. (transitive) To condescend to give; to do something.
    • William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act I scene II:
      Nor would we deign him burial of his men.
    • 1871, Charlotte Mary Yonge, Heartsease, Or, The Brother's Wife (volume 2, page 189)
      He, who usually hardly deigned a glance at his infants, now lay gazing with inexpressible softness and sadness at the little sleeping face []
  3. (obsolete) To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice.
    • 1598?', William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act I, scene I, line 162-3
      I fear my Julia would not deign my lines, receiving them from such a worthless post.

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