# spurn
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English spurnen, spornen, from Old English spurnan (“to strike against, kick, spurn, reject; stumble”), from Proto-Germanic *spurnaną (“to tread, kick, knock out”), from Proto-Indo-European *sperH-.
Cognate with Scots spurn (“to strike, push, kick”), German spornen (“to spur on”), Icelandic sporna, spyrna (“to kick”), Latin spernō (“despise, distain, scorn”). Related to spur and spread.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /spɜːn/
* (US) IPA: /spɝn/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

### Verb

spurn (third-person singular simple present spurns, present participle spurning, simple past and past participle spurned)
* (transitive, intransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.
** c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:to spurn at your most royal image
** c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:What safe and nicely I might well delay By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.
** 1693, [John Locke], “§111”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:Domestics will pay a more ready and cheerful service, when they find themselves not spurned, because fortune has laid them below the level of others, at their master's feet.
** 2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian‎:Although the term “rewilding” – meaning an approach to conservation that allows nature a free rein – has been in currency since 1990, many traditional landowners and gamekeepers continue to spurn both the term and the idea behind it.
* (transitive) To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.
** c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:Me thinks I ſee kings kneeling at his feet, And he with frowning browes and fiery lookes, Spurning their crownes from off their captiue heads.
** 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
* (transitive) To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)
** 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport‎:Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.
* (intransitive, obsolete) To kick or toss up the heels.
** [1716], [John] Gay, “Book II. Of Walking the Streets by Day.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC, page 46:oft' the ſudden Gale Ruffles the Tide, and ſhifts the dang'rous Sail, […] The drunken Chairman in the Kennel ſpurns, The Glaſſes ſhatters, and his Charge o'erturns.

#### Derived terms

* spurner

#### Translations
### Noun

spurn (plural spurns)
* An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.
* (archaic) A kick; a blow with the foot.
** 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book:What defence can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this but either the slap or the spurn?
* (obsolete) Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.
** c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes.
* (mining) A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “spurn”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

## Icelandic
### Etymology

Nominal formation related to spyrja (“to ask”).

### Noun

spurn f (genitive singular spurnar, nominative plural spurnir)
* "asking", news (used in set phrases)
    Ég hafði spurnir af Ara.I received news of Ari.

#### Derived terms

* afspurn
* spurning

### References

* ↑ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) “spurn”, in Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)

## Middle English
### Etymology 1

A back-formation from spurnen.

#### Alternative forms

* sporn, spurne

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /spurn/

#### Noun

spurn
* (rare) A stumbling; a collapse.
* (rare) A strike or blow using one's feet.

##### Descendants

* English: spurn

##### References

* “spurn(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-08.

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

spurn
* Alternative form of spurnen