spurn

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Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English spurnen, spornen, from Old English spurnan (to strike against, kick, spurn, reject; stumble), from Proto-Germanic *spurnaną (to tread, kick, knock out), from Proto-Indo-European *sper-, *sperw- (to twitch, push, fidget, be quick). Cognate with Scots spurn (to strike, push, kick), German anspornen (to spur on), Icelandic sporna, spyrna (to kick), Latin spernō (despise, distain, scorn). Related to spur.

Pronunciation [edit]

Verb [edit]

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

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.
  2. (transitive) To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.
  3. (transitive) To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)
    • 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, 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.

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

Noun [edit]

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 overhanding mass.

Translations [edit]