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Webster 1913 Edition

Spurn

Spurn

(spûrn)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Spurned
(spûrnd)
;
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. √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.
Shakespeare
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
.
Shakespeare
Domestics will pay a more cheerful service when they find themselves not
spurned
because fortune has laid them at their master’s feet.
Locke.

Spurn

,
Verb.
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.
Shakespeare

Spurn

,
Noun.
1.
A kick; a blow with the foot.
[R.]
What defense can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this but either the slap or the
spurn
?
Milton.
2.
Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.
The insolence of office, and the
spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes.
Shakespeare
3.
(Mining)
A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.

Webster 1828 Edition

Spurn

SPURN

,
Verb.
T.
[L., spur, kicking.]
1.
To kick; to drive back or away, as with the foot.
2.
To reject with disdain; to scorn to receive or accept. What multitudes of rational beings spurn the offers of eternal happiness!
3.
To treat with contempt.

SPURN

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To manifest disdain in rejecting any thing; as, to spurn at the gracious offers of pardon.
2.
To make contemptuous opposition; to manifest disdain in resistance.
Nay more, to spurn at your most royal image.
3.
To kick or toss up the heels.
The drunken chairman in the kennel spurns.

SPURN

,
Noun.
Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.
The insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes.

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