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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.

Definition 2024


spurn

spurn

See also: Spurn

English

Verb

spurn (third-person singular simple present spurns, present participle spurning, simple past and past participle spurned)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.
    • Shakespeare
      to spurn at your most royal image
    • Shakespeare
      What safe and nicely I might well delay / By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.
    • John Locke
      Domestics will pay a more cheerful service when they find themselves not spurned because fortune has laid them at their master's feet.
  2. (transitive) To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.
    • Shakespeare
      I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
  3. (transitive) To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)
    • 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport:
      Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To kick or toss up the heels.
    • Chaucer
      The miller spurned at a stone.
    • Gay
      The drunken chairman in the kennel spurns.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

spurn (plural spurns)

  1. An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.
  2. A kick; a blow with the foot.
    • Milton
      What defence can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this but either the slap or the spurn?
  3. (obsolete) Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.
    • Shakespeare
      The insolence of office and the spurns / That patient merit of the unworthy takes.
  4. A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.

Translations