SPURN
reject, spurn, freeze off, scorn, pooh-pooh, disdain, turn down
(verb) reject with contempt; “She spurned his advances”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
spurn (third-person singular simple present spurns, present participle spurning, simple past and past participle spurned)
(ambitransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.
(transitive) To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.
(transitive) To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)
(intransitive, obsolete) To kick or toss up the heels.
Noun
spurn (plural spurns)
An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.
A kick; a blow with the foot.
(obsolete) Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.
(mining) A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.
Source: Wiktionary
Spurn, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spurned; p. pr. & vb. n. Spurning.] Etym: [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. sq. root171. 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)
Definition: A body of coal left to sustain an overhanding mass.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
23 January 2025
LEFT
(adjective) being or located on or directed toward the side of the body to the west when facing north; “my left hand”; “left center field”; “the left bank of a river is bank on your left side when you are facing downstream”
Do you know this game?
Wordscapes is a popular word game consistently in the top charts of both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The Android version has more than 10 million installs. This guide will help you get more coins in less than two minutes of playing the game. Continue reading Wordscapes: Get More Coins