spurn

present singular third person spurns · participle present spurning · participle past spurned · past spurned

1. ambitransitiveTo reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.

   to spurn at your most royal image

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

   4 more examples

   What safe and nicely I might well delay By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.

   c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]

   Domestics will pay a more ready and cheerful service, when they find themselves not spurned, because fortune has laid them below the level of others, at their master's feet.

   1693, [John Locke], “§111”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC

   She will spurn a Tyrone Power/A Van Johnson or a Gable/For a Cenek Kottnauer/Or a man like Dr. Treybal

   1949 November, Nat Halper, “Pronunciation”, in Chess Review

   Although the term “rewilding” – meaning an approach to conservation that allows nature a free rein – has been in currency since 1990, many traditional landowners and gamekeepers continue to spurn both the term and the idea behind it.

   2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian

2. transitiveTo reject something by pushing it away with the foot.

   I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

   1 more example

   Me thinks I ſee kings kneeling at his feet, And he with frowning browes and fiery lookes, Spurning their crownes from off their captiue heads.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii

3. transitiveTo waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)

   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.

   2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport

4. intransitiveobsoleteTo kick or toss up the heels.

   oft' the ſudden Gale Ruffles the Tide, and ſhifts the dang'rous Sail, […] The drunken Chairman in the Kennel ſpurns, The Glaſſes ſhatters, and his Charge o'erturns.

   [1716], [John] Gay, “Book II. Of Walking the Streets by Day.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC, page 46

plural spurns

1. An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.
2. archaicA kick; a blow with the foot.

   What defence can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this but either the slap or the spurn?

   1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC

3. obsoleteDisdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.

   The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

4. businessA body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.