condescend, deign, descend
(verb) do something that one considers to be below one’s dignity
Source: WordNet® 3.1
deign (third-person singular simple present deigns, present participle deigning, simple past and past participle deigned)
(intransitive) To condescend; to do despite a perceived affront to one's dignity.
(transitive) To condescend to give; to do something.
(obsolete) To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice.
• Edgin, digne, dinge, gnide, nidge
Source: Wiktionary
Deign, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deigned; p. pr. & vb. n. Deigning.] Etym: [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. Shak.
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. Shak.
Deign, v. i.
Definition: 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.
Note: In early English deign was often used impersonally. Him deyneth not to set his foot to ground. Chaucer.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
6 May 2025
(adjective) marked by or paying little heed or attention; “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics”--Franklin D. Roosevelt; “heedless of danger”; “heedless of the child’s crying”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
