contemn, v.
(kənˈtɛm)
Also 6 contempne, 6–7 contemne (pa. pple. 6 contempt).
[a. OF. contemner, contempner (cited 1453 in Godef.), ad. L. contem(p)n-ĕre, f. con- intensive + temnĕre to slight, scorn, disdain, despise: cf. Gr. τέµνειν to judge. Now chiefly a literary word.]
1. trans. To treat as of small value, treat or view with contempt; to despise, disdain, scorn, slight.
| 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye p. xlviii, They that do contempne me and forgette my charyte they do this to me. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 92 Who so contempneth you contempneth me. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iv. 129, I haue done pennance for contemning Loue. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. vi. 24 Those things which we neither Desire, nor Hate, we are said to Contemne. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. i. 381 Not that your Father's mildness I contemn. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. ii. i, I did not start at his addresses as when they came from one whom I contemned. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iv. xxxiii, It lay in Deronda's nature usually to contemn the feeble. |
† b. Const. with
inf. To scorn or disdain
to do.
| 1609 Bible (Douay) Deut. xxi. 18 A stubbourne and froward sonne, that..contemneth to be obedient. 1622 Wither Mistr. Philar. (1633) 738 Some..who do not contemne In his retyred walkes to visit him. |
2. To treat (law, orders, etc.) with contemptuous disregard.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 195 His benefites if we forget, or do contemne his lawe. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Nov. 48 Let not my small demaund be so contempt. c 1665 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 424 Mr. Cooper contemned my lords' order, and would not obey it. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) III. xlvi. 667 This counsel is not to be contemned. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 689 They..contemned and violated the engagement of treaties. |
| absol. 1609 Bible (Douay) Bel & Dr. i. 12 They contemned, because they had made under the table a secrete entrance [Vulg. contemnebant autem, quia, etc.]. |