spurn

[spurn] /spɜrn/
verb (used with object)
1.
to reject with disdain; scorn.
2.
to treat with contempt; despise.
3.
to kick or trample with the foot.
verb (used without object)
4.
to show disdain or contempt; scorn something.
noun
5.
disdainful rejection.
6.
contemptuous treatment.
7.
a kick.
Origin
1250-1300; (v.) Middle English spurnen, Old English spurnan; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German spurnan, Old Norse sporna to kick; akin to Latin spernere to put away; (noun) Middle English: a kick, contemptuous stroke, derivative of the noun
Related forms
spurner, noun
outspurn, verb (used with object)
unspurned, adjective
Synonyms
1. See refuse1 . 6. contumely.
Antonyms
1. accept.
Examples from the web for spurn
  • Even while you spurn them, they court you,-rural deities and others of every kind that frequent these mountains.
  • But the demonstrators spurn this, saying it will make the developers richer but not make housing cheaper.
  • Today, conservation-minded scientists spurn trawling whenever possible, especially in commercial fisheries.
British Dictionary definitions for spurn

spurn

/spɜːn/
verb
1.
to reject (a person or thing) with contempt
2.
(archaic) when intr, often foll by against. to kick (at)
noun
3.
an instance of spurning
4.
(archaic) a kick or thrust
Derived Forms
spurner, noun
Word Origin
Old English spurnan; related to Old Norse sporna, Old High German spurnan, Latin spernere to despise, Lithuanian spiriu to kick
Word Origin and History for spurn
v.

Old English spurnan "to kick (away), reject, scorn, despise," from Proto-Germanic *spurnanan (cf. Old Saxon and Old High German spurnan, Old Frisian spurna, Old Norse sporna "to kick"), from PIE root *spere- "ankle" (cf. Middle Dutch spoor "track of an animal," Greek sphyron "ankle," Latin spernere "to reject, spurn," Sanskrit sphurati "kicks," Middle Irish seir "heel"). Related: Spurned; spurning.