▪ I. † misdeˈmean, n. Obs.
[mis-1 4.]
Misbehaviour, misdemeanour.
| 1602 W. Bas Sword & Buckler xxiii, To thinke it any misdemeasne in vs, If we..doe fall againe Into our ancient Sword and Buckler vaine. 1742 in B. Peirce Hist. Harvard Univ. (1833) App. 86 Sundry crimes and misdemeans whereof he was convicted. 1773 J. Ross Fratricide i. 308 (MS.), A Criminal arraign'd For..some heinous misdemean. |
▪ II. misdeˈmean, v.1
[f. mis-1 1 + demean v.1]
1. refl. To misbehave, misconduct oneself.
| [1558 in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. i. 42 One of the Canons of Litchfield has also preached lewdly, and misdemeaned himself (those are the words in the Minutes of the Council-Book).] 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. (an. 1381) III. 434/2 Neither did the townesmen of S. Albons..thus outragiouslie misdemeane themselues. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iii. 14 You that best should teach vs, Haue misdemean'd your selfe. a 1618 Raleigh Prerog. Parl. (1628) 18 Iustices..that had vsed extortion, or bribery, or had otherwise misdemeaned themselues. 1689 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 256 They did not judge the Keeper to have highly misdemeaned himself in his office of Keeper of the board Seale. 1736 Carte Ormonde I. 260 Sir Luke Fitzgerald misdemeaned himself before the board by uncivil words. 1857 Hurlstone & Norman's Rep. (1858) II. 221 The said William Baker did..unlawfully misdemean and misconduct himself in his said service by neglecting..his said master's service. |
b. intr. in the same sense.
| 1765 C. Smart tr. Phædrus iv. ix, When our neighbours mis-demean, Our censures are exceeding keen. |
† 2. trans. To misuse, abuse. Obs.
| a 1625 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 47 Hee that misdemeaneth authority that law giueth him..shall be a wrong doer ab initio. |
▪ III. misdeˈmean, v.2 rare—1.
[f. mis-1 8 + demean v.2]
= demean v.2
| 1843 Lytton Last Bar. iv. ix, My Lord Scales, lift the curtain; nay, sir, it misdemeans you not. |