Spurn

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /spÉšn/
• UK IPA: /spɜːn/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

Origin

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.

Full definition of spurn

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.
• Shakespeareto spurn at your most royal image
• ShakespeareWhat safe and nicely I might well delay
  By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.
• John LockeDomestics will pay a more cheerful service when they find themselves not spurned because fortune has laid them at their master's feet.
2. (transitive) To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.
• ShakespeareI spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
3. (transitive) To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)
• 2011, September 28, Tom Rostance, Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos, 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.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To kick or toss up the heels.
• ChaucerThe miller spurned at a stone.
• GayThe drunken chairman in the kennel spurns.

Derived terms

• spurner

Noun

1. An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.
2. A kick; a blow with the foot.
• MiltonWhat 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.
• ShakespeareThe insolence of office and the spurns
  That patient merit of the unworthy takes.
4. A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.