Spurn (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spurned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Spurning.] [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise, Skr. sphur to jerk, to push. &root;171. See Spur.]
1.
To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick.
[The bird] with his foot will spurn adown his cup.
Chaucer.
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
Shak.
2.
To reject with disdain; to scorn to receive or accept; to treat with contempt.
What safe and nicely I might well delay
By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.
Shak.
Domestics will pay a more cheerful service when they find themselves not spurned because fortune has laid them at their master's feet.
Locke.
© Webster 1913.
Spurn, v. i.
1.
To kick or toss up the heels.
The miller spurned at a stone.
Chaucer.
The drunken chairman in the kennel spurns.
Gay.
2.
To manifest disdain in rejecting anything; to make contemptuous opposition or resistance.
Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image.
Shak.
© Webster 1913.
Spurn, n.
1.
A kick; a blow with the foot.
[R.]
What defence can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this but either the slap or the spurn?
Milton.
2.
Disdainful rejection; contemptuous tratment.
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes.
Shak.
3. Mining
A body of coal left to sustain an overhanding mass.
© Webster 1913.