Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.
\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.
\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.