▪ I. scorn, n.
(skɔːn)
Forms: α. 2–3 skarn, 3 scarn, scharne. β. 2–7 scorne, 3–4 schorn, 3–7 skorn, 4 schorne, 4–7 skorne, 6 Sc. scrone, 2– scorn.
[Early ME. skarn, scharne, aphetic a. OF. escarn, escharn = Pr. esquern-s, Sp. escarnio, Pg. escarnho, It. scherno; a Com. Rom. word of Teut. origin: cf. OHG. skern, MHG. schern, OS. scern, early mod.Du. scherne mockery, sport.
The β forms, which both in the n. and in the vb. appear equally early with the α forms, are not easy to account for. The remarkable similarity of form and sense with It. scornare, lit. to deprive of the horns (:—popular L. *ex-cornāre, f. L. cornū horn), hence to disgrace, slander, deride, scorno (vbl. n.) dishonour, insult, contempt, has given rise to the suggestion that the form of the Eng. words may have been influenced by OF. escorner (mod.F. écorner) to deprive of horns. But although the Fr. verb occurs (rarely) in the 16th c. with the sense ‘to put to confusion’, ‘to mock’, this seems to be a late adoption from Italian; OF. escorner has, besides its literal meaning, only the transferred sense to despoil. In the 16th and 17th c. the It. word may perh. have influenced the Eng. literary use.]
1. Mockery, derision, contempt; in mod. use, indignant or passionate contempt.
| α c 1200 Ormin 4402 Þatt tu ne take nohht wiþþ skarn, Wiþþ hæþinng, ne wiþþ idell, Þe name off ure Laferrd Crist. Ibid. 4876, & all onn hæþing & o skarn Off me gaþ eȝȝwhær spæche. c 1205 Lay. 17307 Þa þe king Gillomar makede mucchel hoker & scarn. |
| β c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 169 Þo ne mihte no man for stenche cumen him enden..ac mest manne gremede him mid scorne. a 1225 Ancr. R. 106 Amid þe muðe me gurde him sume cherre, inoh reðe, ase me to beot his cheoken, & spette him a schorn [v.r. o scharne]. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 255/8 Gret scorn heo hadden of alle þulke: þat icristnede were. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 12495 With skorne wenest þou þe quyte As a fals ypocryte. 1340 Ayenb. 22 Þe vifte out-kestinge of þe ilke stocke is scorn. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 304 In scole þere is scorne but if a clerke wil lerne. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5557 Hit is heghly to haue, & of hert dryue Soche sklaundur & skorne, þat skathis to mony. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 147 Þen was he for scorne lad to þe ȝate of þe cyte of Rome. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 259 The vestymentes [betokeneth] the garmentes in y⊇ whiche our Sauyour was clothed in scorne. 1528 Lyndesay Dreme 2132 Quhilk bled with effusioun, With scrone and derisioun, And deit with confusioun, Confirmand our peace. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 133 Shall I, saies she, that haue so oft encountred him with scorne, write to him that I loue him? 1616 T. Scot Philomythie ii. C 3, As when laden gun Spits forth its load, in scorne to be restraind. a 1645 Waller To A.H. 12 Till my just disdain Of her neglect above that Passion born, Did pride to pride oppose, and scorn to scorn. 1719 Ozell tr. Misson's Mem. & Observ. 25 The Bull, immoveable, looks down upon the Dog with an Eye of Scorn. 1781 Cowper Table-T. 201 Or tell me, if you can, what pow'r maintains A Briton's scorn of arbitrary chains? 1866 Swinburne Select. fr. Byron Pref. 15 Scorn is brief or silent: anger alone finds vent in violent iteration and clamorous appeal. 1882 ‘Ouida’ Maremma I. 25 His great black eyes blazing in a scorn he strove to assume. |
b. Alliteratively coupled with scathe. Sc. and arch.
| a 1300 [see scathe n. 2 d]. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxii. (Iustin) 767 Iustine & cypriane of þe caldrone son wes tane als hale & fere, but schath & schorne, as þai ware of þare modir borne! c 1400 [see scathe n. 2 d]. a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 211 As skorne cummis commonlie with skaith. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose iv, And at the best I shall be ill enough off, getting both the scaith and the scorn. 1864 [see scathe n. 2 d]. |
c. personified.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xlii. 81 Thrucht Skornes noss thai put a prik, This he wes banist and gat a blek. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. i. 51 Disdaine and Scorne ride sparkling in her eyes, Mis-prizing what they looke on. 1613 J. Davies Muses Teares (Grosart) 5 For Hate, by feare, is held from bold Attempt: But, Scorne doth make it daring. 1742 Gray Eton 73 Ambition this shall tempt to rise, Then whirl the wretch from high, To bitter Scorn a sacrifice. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. vi, The mark for scorn to point his finger at. |
2. A manifestation of contempt; a derisive utterance or gesture; a taunt, an insult. arch.
| c 1275 Lay. 29564 And suþþe ȝ[eiden] hine on mid hire foule scornes. a 1330 Otuel 1316 Þo otuwel sauȝ is cheke bon, He ȝaf clarel a skorn a non. c 1410 Sir Cleges 393 He cam anon, and teryde natt, Wythout any skorn. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laur. 1382 Also a deuoute Prayer to Moyses hornis, Metrifyde merely, medelyd with scornis. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 83 Do but encaue your selfe, And marke the Fleeres, the Gybes, and notable Scornes That dwell in euery Region of his face. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xi. 12 What Man then that is not stark Mad, will Voluntarily Expose himself to the..Scorns of Great Men! 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxix. 9, I met with scoffs, I met with scorns From youth and babe and hoary hairs. |
3. † a. Matter for scorn, something contemptible. (Cf. to think scorn in 4.) Obs. b. An object of mockery or contempt.
| c 1350 Leg. Rood (1871) 81 Scho..trowed no vertu in þe tre; Hir thoght it was scorne in hir wit Þat oþer men so honord it. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxi. 6 But as for me, I am a worme and no man: a very scorne of men and the outcast of the people. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 106 Thou..art confederate with a damned packe, To make a loathsome abiect scorne of me. 1671 Milton Samson 34 Made of my Enemies the scorn and gaze. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccxxiii. 195 But in a Dead Calm, a Man loses his Spirits, and lies in a Manner Expos'd, as the Scorn and Spectacle of Ill Fortune. 1718 Free-thinker No. 57. 29 Let him live to be the Scorn of every Honest Man. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. iii. 82 A scandal and a scorn To all who look on thee. |
4. Phr. † to bring, † drive to scorn, to shame, disgrace; † to do (a person) scorn, to insult; † to get the scorn (Sc.), to be treated with contumely; † to hold, † have scorn at, of, to entertain a feeling of contempt for; to laugh to scorn, now arch. and literary (see laugh v. 3); † to make scorn at, to, to mock, deride; † to put a scorn on, upon, to offer indignity to; to speak scorn of, to revile, speak opprobriously of; † to take scorn at, to despise; † to take scorn, to be indignant that, to disdain to do something; † to take at or in scorn, to feel as an indignity; to think scorn of, to despise; to think (it) scorn, to disdain (const. that or inf.), now arch. and literary.
In the 16–17th c. foul often appears as an intensive qualification of scorn in these phrases. Cf. quot. c 1275 in 2.
| a 1300 [see drive v. 17]. c 1320 Beues 1357 Beues..louȝ hem alle þer to scorn. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 5391 Scorn hym þought, & swor his heued þer truage schold nought so be leued. c 1375 Cursor M. 16701 (Fairf.) To hym mekyll scorne they made. a 1400–50 Alexander 641 If any scolere in þe scole his skorne at him makis, He skapis him full skathely bot if he skyp better. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxii. 103 Þise smale men hase als grete scorne at þe grete men. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 264 And he of suche one gret skorne he þowte. 1470–85 Malory Arthur viii. xvi. 297 Syre Sagramore loked vpon syre Tristram and hadde scorne of his wordes. Ibid. x. iii. 417 That strong knyght toke his wordes at scorne and said he said it for mockery. 1523 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 38 They wold thynck grete skorne, to take lether for our prynce. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cv[i]. 24 Yee they thought scorne of y{supt} pleasaunt londe. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 94 Thay wist no{supt} how to get him pynd, That thame had drevin to skorne. 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer iv. (1577) V vj, Neyther can I thinke that Aristotle and Plato tooke scorn at the name of a perfect Courtier. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 213 Thus he passed..with Trumpes and Pipes of Reedes blowen before him, to do him the more scorne and despight. 1575 tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 49 In Dathan, Core, Abyron: and in the Prophetes of Baal: all whych perished miserably for taking skorne to amend. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 228 Neither took I in scorne that I coupled myself with you in those affaires. 1579 [see hold v. 12]. 1581 Hanmer Jesuites Banner A 1 b, Yee take scorne that I tearme him a cripled soldiour. 1593 R. Bancroft Dangerous Positions iv. i. 137 They doe take it in scorne to be thought so weake. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heauen 309 They hold scorn to be taught. 1611 Bible Esther iii. 6 Hee thought scorne to lay hands on Mordecai alone. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado 222 The God of heauen, Who in his great compassions, thought 't no scorne, That the Creator take the creatures forme. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 248 So his Steward..turn'd me out of doores. Which I tooke in that foule scorne..that in a kind of sullen and dogged fashion..I left the house. 1633 [see put v. 23 b]. 1653 Holcroft Procopius, Goth. Wars ii. 53 All sat and ate with him, and put licentious scornes on him. 1738 Wesley Ps. ii. iv, The Lord..Shall..laugh to Scorn their furious Pride. a 1850 Rossetti Dante & Circle i. (1874) 7 Messer Corso spoke great scorn of Messer Vieri, calling him ‘the Ass of the Gate’. 1856 F. E. Paget Owlet of Owlst. 227 The worst manager among them thinks scorn of wastefulness in a superior. 1866 [see laugh v. 3]. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxii. 35 The straightforward and business-like writs which did not think it scorn to speak to Englishmen in the English tongue. |
5. Comb., as scorn-blighted, scorn-pointing, scorn-worthy adjs.
| 1819 Sheil Evadne II. ii. 33 Be all who bear Colonna's name *scorn-blighted. |
| 1898 J. Arch Story Life xi. 253, I made myself as blind as I could to the *scorn-pointing finger pointed it ever so scornfully. |
| 1602 Carew Cornwall i. 66 To make great prouision vpon small hope of vtterance were to incurre a *skorne-worthy losse. 1859 W. Anderson Discourses (1860) 19 It makes a most scorn-worthy exhibition of itself. |
▪ II. scorn, v.
(skɔːn)
Forms: α. 2–3 skarne, 3 scarne, (scærn). β. 3–5 schorn, 3–6 skorn, 4 scornie, 4–7 scorne, skorne, 6 Sc. scowrn, 7 vulgar squorn, 3– scorn.
[Early ME. scarne, schorne, aphetic a. OF. escarnir, escharnir, eschernir = Pr. esquernir, escarnir, Sp., Pg. escarnir (more commonly escarnecer), It. schernire:—Com. Rom. *skernīre, of Teut. origin; cf. OHG. skernôn, skirnôn (MHG. schernen), MDu. and early mod.Du. schernen to ridicule, treat with contumely, f. the n. represented by OHG. skern, OS. scern: see scorn n.
With regard to the vowel of the β. forms see the remarks under the n.]
† 1. intr. To speak or behave contemptuously; to use derisive language, jeer. Const. at, with. Obs.
| α c 1200 Ormin 7397 Þa beþ hemm ȝarrkedd mare inoh & werrse pine inn helle, Þann iff þeȝȝ haffdenn herrd itt nohht Ne skarnedd tær onnȝæness. |
| β 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 12481 Skorne nat, and seye þou wylt forsake þy synne, and eft aȝen hyt take. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 221, ‘I nile not scorne’, quod scripture ‘but scryueyns liȝe’. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xvii. 178 Thei scornen, whan thei seen ony strange Folk goynge clothed. 1449 Paston Lett. I. 85 And dey bade me do my wurst, bycause I had so fewe schyppys and so smale, that they scornyd with me. c 1520 Nisbet N.T. Matt. xxvii. 29 Thai knelit before him, and scornit, and said, Haile, king of Jewis. 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 302 And in like sort Iuuenal an Heathen Poet, scorneth at this folly. c 1660 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 297 Scorning at anything that seemed formall. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxiii, She gecked and scorned at my northern speech and habit. |
† 2. trans. To treat with ridicule, to show extreme contempt for, to mock, deride. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 248 And hweðer so he deð, hokereð & schorneð, & lauhweð þe olde ape lude to bismare. a 1300 E.E. Psalter ii. 4 Þat wones in heuen scorne þam salle, And lauerd sal snere with-alle. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1189 Bot þa þat wille him folow, he ledes And þam scornes and taries in his nedes. c 1386 Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 506 It is a shame that the peple shal So scorne thee and laughe at thy folye. 1421 Coventry Leet-bk. 27 Allso that no man throw ne cast at noo straunge man, ne skorn hym. c 1440 Ipomydon 323 That they hym scornyd wist he noght. 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 133 ‘Quhom scornys thow?’ quod Wallace. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 98 The ja him skrippit with a skryke, And skornit him as it was lyk. 1577 Kendall Flowers of Epigr. 52 b, Replide the Goddesse: what? skornste thou in armour me? 1631 High Commission Cases (Camden) 208 He that in the two former partes of his life mocked and scorned all both the message and messengers of God. |
3. To hold in disdain, to contemn, despise.
| α a 1275 Prov. ælfred 238 in O.E. Misc. 117 Bi-foren he þe bimened, bi-hindin he þe scarned. |
| β c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiii. (George) 417 Nocht-þane, þo þu oure godis skorne, þu tellis ws first quhar þou wes borne. c 1500 Young Childr. Bk. 57 in Babees Bk., Scorne not þe pore, ne hurte no mane. c 1590 Marlowe Faustus iii. (1604) B 2 b, Learne thou of Faustus manly fortitude, And scorne those ioyes thou neuer shalt possesse. 1600 in T. Stafford Pac. Hib. i. xiv. (1633) 87 Hee must be maintained with a convenient attendance, that they may not scorne him. 1669 Dryden Wild Gallant iii. 37 Franc. Come, come, you'r a slanderful huswife, and I squorn your hallottry trick. 1697 ― Virg. Past. ii. 43 Nor scorn the pipe: Amyntas, to be taught, With all his kisses would my skill have bought. 1697 Congreve Mourning Bride iii. viii, Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 411 'Tis not in folly, not to scorn a fool. 1813 Scott Rokeby i. viii, Death had he seen.., Knew all his shapes, and scorn'd them all. 1827 Wordsw. Miscell. Sonn. ii. i. 1 Scorn not the Sonnet. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xiii. 1 To be scorn'd by one that I scorn. |
b. fig. Of things: † To defy, be secure against (obs.); also poet. to be immeasurably superior to.
| 1648 Gage West Ind. xviii. 130 Such is this Golfe, whose entrance is straitned with two rocks or mountains on each side (which would well become two great Peeces and so scorne a whole fleet). 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 319 Where lawns extend that scorn Arcadian pride. |
4. With inf. as object. To feel it beneath one, to disdain indignantly to do something.
| 1605 ? Wayer Dick Bowyer C 2, I scorne to humble the least part about me. 1701 De Foe Trueborn Eng. 36 They scorn their Laws or Governours to fear. 1780 Burke Sp. Bristol Wks. III. 373 We were saved the disgrace of their formal reception, only because the congress scorned to receive them. 1837 Lockhart Scott (1839) II. 104 He scorned for a long while to attach any consequence to this complete alternation of habits. 1885 E. Arnold Secret of Death 23 Thou Scorned'st to tread the path of wealth, wherein The foolish perish. |
† 5. Comb.: scorn-book, an unwilling learner; scorn-gold a., out-vying gold in colour. Obs.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. Ecl. i. (1598) 86 Braue crest to him her scorn-gold haire did yeeld. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin i. Argt., St. George oth' back-side of the Horn-book, The Dragon kills, to Humour Scorn-book. |