disavow, v.
(dɪsəˈvaʊ)
Also 4 des-, 5 dys-.
[a. F. désavouer (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), f. des-, dis- 4 + avouer avow v.1 In med.L. disavouāre, disadvocāre.]
1. trans. To refuse to avow, own, or acknowledge; to disclaim knowledge of, responsibility for, or approbation of; to disown, repudiate.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 322 Boþe kyng and kayser and þe coroned pope May desauowe þat þey dude. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon v. 134 Our fader hath dysavowed vs for the love of hym. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. v. 37 Weary..Of warres delight..The name of knighthood he did disavow. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 285 One of his Masters drew profit from it, and the other disavowed it. 1748 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) II. clxxii. 137 Comte Pertingue..far from disavowing, confirms all that Mr. Harte has said. 1787 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 212 The Emperor disavowed the concessions which had been made by his governors. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 327 Melfort never disavowed these papers. 1874 Green Short Hist. vi. §6. 328 The plan was simply that the King should disavow the Papal jurisdiction. |
† 2. To refuse to admit or acknowledge as true or valid; to deny. Obs.
| 1611 Cotgr., Nier, to denie, disaduow; say nay, gainsay. 1629 Gaule Pract. The. 86 One disauowes him begotten of God; another, borne of Mary. 1634 Ford P. Warbeck iv. ii, Yet can they never..disavow my blood Plantagenet's. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 387 Complaining I had sold her a broken stone, which I disavowed. |
† 3. To refuse to accept or entertain; to decline.
| 1629 Chapman Juvenal v. 167 An oil, for whose strength Romans disavow To bathe with Boccharis. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat iii. (1867) 135 They..disavow to have any further dealing with worldly contentments. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 364 The Mexicans disavow all peace with their neighbouring enemies..that they may be stored with prisoners of war for sacrifice. |
Hence disaˈvowed ppl. a., disaˈvowing vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also disaˈvowable a., liable to be disavowed; disaˈvowedly (-ɪdlɪ) adv., in a disavowed manner; disaˈvower, one that disavows (Ash 1775).
| 1611 Cotgr., Niement, a denying, disaduowing, or gainsaying. 1651–3 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year i. iv. 43 No publick or imaginative disavowings..can be sufficient. 1698 R. Ferguson View Eccles. 7 As that great and learned man Mr. Baxter..disavowedly, and with an openess natural to him, doth express himself. 1889 Sat. Rev. 28 Sept. 345/2 The disavowable, but not yet disavowed, agents of Russia. |