demur

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  demorer, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French demorer (French demeurer), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  demoro, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin demorari (“to tarry”), from de- + morari (“to delay”).

See alternative etymology in the Anglo-Norman ancestor.

Pronunciation

• enPR: dĭmûrʹ, IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɜː/
• enPR: dĭmûrʹ, IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɝ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Distinguish from pronunciation of demure

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To linger; to stay; to tarry
   • (Can we date this quote by Nicols and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Yet durst not demur nor abide upon the camp.

2. (intransitive) To delay; to pause; to suspend proceedings or judgment in view of a doubt or difficulty; to hesitate; to put off the determination or conclusion of an affair.
   • 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward the Sixth

     Vpon this rubbe the English Embassadors thought fit to demurre

3. (intransitive) To scruple or object; to take exception; to oppose; to balk

   I demur to that statement.

   The personnel demurred at the management's new scheme.

4. (intransitive, law) To interpose a demurrer.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To suspend judgment concerning; to doubt of or hesitate about
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     The latter I demur, for in their looks / Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To cause delay to; to put off
   • (Can we date this quote by Quarles and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     He demands a fee, / And then demurs me with a vain delay.

Related terms

• demurrage
• demurral
• demurrer

Translations

intransitive: To delay; to pause; to suspend proceedings

• Bulgarian: , колебая се (kolebaja se), отлагам (bg) (otlagam)
• Dutch: uitstellen (nl), verdagen (nl)
• German: vertagen (de), aufschieben (de), unterbrechen (de), zögern (de), verschieben (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: halaszt (hu), elhalaszt (hu), elnapol (hu), felfüggeszt (hu)
• Italian: rimandare (it), differire (it)
• Latin: demoror
• Serbo-Croatian: kolebati se (sh)
• Spanish: demorar (es), atrasar (es)

intransitive: To balk; to oppose.

• Bulgarian: , противя се (protivja se), опъвам се (opǎvam se)
• Dutch: verzet aantekenen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: einwenden (de), opponieren (de), widersprechen (de), sich verweigern, hindern (de)
• Hungarian: tiltakozik (hu), ellentmond (hu), ellenkezik (hu), kifogásol (hu), kifogást emel
• Serbo-Croatian: prigovarati (sh)

transitive, obsolete: To cause delay to; to put off

• Bulgarian: , отлагам (bg) (otlagam)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: verzögern (de), hinauszögern

Noun

demur (plural demurs)

1. Stop; pause; hesitation as to proceeding; suspense of decision or action; scruple.
   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     All my demurs but double his attacks; At last he whispers, “Do; and we go snacks.”

   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society 2011, p. 132:

     Most geologists today would accept such evidence without demur, but it was still ‘fringe’ science when du Toit was publishing.

Translations

hesitation as to proceeding; suspense of decision or action; scruple

• Bulgarian: , колебание (bg) n (kolebanie), скрупули (bg) pl (skrupuli)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Serbo-Croatian: kolebanje (sh) n

Anagrams

• MUDer, mured

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) dēmur

1. first-person plural present passive subjunctive of dō