misdemean

English

Etymology

From mis- +‎ demean.

Verb

misdemean (third-person singular simple present misdemeans, present participle misdemeaning, simple past and past participle misdemeaned)

1. (reflexive, archaic) With a reflexive pronoun: to cause (oneself) to behave badly.

   he misdemeaned himself

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 220, column 1:

     [Y]ou that beſt ſhould teach vs, / Haue miſdemean'd your ſelfe, and not a little: / Tovvard the King firſt, then his Lavves, in filling / The vvhole Realme, by your teaching & your Chaplaines / (for ſo vve are inform'd) vvith nevv opinions, / Diuers and dangerous; vvhich are Hereſies; / And not reform'd, may proue pernicious.

2. (intransitive) To misbehave.

Related terms

• misdemeanor
• misdemeanant
• misdemeanist
• misdemeanorize

References

• “misdemean”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.