demur
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: dĭmûrʹ
ipa: /dɪˈmɜː/
enpr: dĭmûrʹ
ipa: /dɪˈmɜɹ/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
Forms: form: demurs
Etymology: From Middle English demure, demore (“a delay, demur; a sojourn, stay”), from Old French demure, demore, demuere (“a delay, demur”) (modern French demeure), from Old French demorer, demourer (verb): see etymology 1.
Senses: examples: text: If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.
ref: 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 37:
text: All my demurrs but double his attacks; / At laſt he vvhiſpers, "Do; and vve go ſnacks."
ref: 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 4, lines 65–66:
text: Nicholas was not much disposed to sleep, being in truth too anxious, so after a little demur he accepted the offer, […]
ref: 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Nicholas, accompanied by Smike, sallies forth to seek his Fortune. He encounters Mr. Vincent Crummles; and who he was is herein made manifest.”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 212:
text: Most geologists today would accept such evidence without demur, but it was still 'fringe' science when [Alexander] du Toit was publishing.
ref: 2004, Richard Fortey, “Plates”, in Earth: An Intimate History, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 161:
glosses: An act of objecting or taking exception; a scruple; also, an exception taken or objection to something.
examples: text: [G]ood People, living vvithin the Limits of true and lavvful Matrimony, ſhall not by Malice or ill VVill, be ſo long detained and interrupted from their Right, as in times paſt they have been: Neither unjuſt Matrymony ſhall have his unjuſt and inceſtuous demoure and continuance, as by delayes to Rome it is vvont to have.
ref: 1533 (date written), John Strype, “The Princess Mary. The King’s Appeal against the Pope. The Supremacy. Books Writ against the Pope’s Usurpations.”, in Ecclesiastical Memorials; Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of It: Shewing the Various Emergencies of the Church of England, under King Henry the Eighth. […], volume I, London: […] John Wyat, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 148:
glosses: An act of continuing; a continuance.
examples: text: [A]lbeit his Highneſs had cauſe, as the ſame vvrote, to marvel of your long demor, and lack of expedition of one or other of the things committed to your charge; yet did his Highneſs right vvell perſuade unto himſelf the default not to be in you, but in ſome other cauſe, […]
ref: 1679, Gilbert Burnet, “[A Collection of Records and Original Papers; with Other Instruments Referred to in the Former History.] Another Dispatch to the Ambassadours to the Same Purpose. A Duplicate.”, in The History of the Reformation of the Church of England. The First Part, […], London: […] T[homas] H[odgkin] for Richard Chiswell, […], →OCLC, page 61:
glosses: An act of lingering or tarrying.
examples: text: VVe ſavv this tovvn only in tranſitu, but it merited a little demurr.
ref: 1673, John Ray, “Of Rome”, in Observations Topographical, Moral, & Physiological; Made in a Journey through part of the Low-countries, Germany, Italy, and France: […], London: […] John Martyn, printer to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 378:
synonyms: abode
glosses: An act of remaining or staying; a residence, a stay.
examples: text: The King told me, […] That I ſhould have the Character of Ambaſſador Extraordinary, and the ſame Allovvance I ſhou'd have had in Spain: Upon this Offer I made no Demurr, but immediately accepted it, and ſo my Ambaſſy vvas declar'd in May 1674.
ref: 1683, William Temple, “Memoirs of what Pass’d in Christendom, from the War Begun 1672, to the Peace Concluded 1679. Chapter I.”, in The Works of Sir William Temple, […], volume I, London: […] J. Round, J[acob] Tonson, J. Clarke, B[enjamin] Motte, T. Wotton, S[amuel] Birt, and T[homas] Osborne, published 1731, →OCLC, page 379:
glosses: A state of having doubts; a hesitation, a pause.
examples: text: [W]ith Rejoinders and Replies, / Long Bills, and Anſvvers, ſtuft vvith Lies, / Demurr, Imparlance, and Eſſoign, / The Parties ne'er could Iſſue join: / For Sixteen Years the Cauſe vvas ſpun, / And then ſtood vvhere it firſt begun.
ref: 1726, [Jonathan Swift], Cadenus and Vanessa. A Poem, London: […] J. Roberts […], →OCLC, page 9:
topics: law
glosses: Synonym of demurrer (“a motion by a party to a legal action for the immediate or summary judgment of the court on the question of whether, assuming the truth of the matter alleged by the opposite party, it is sufficient in law to sustain the action or defence, and hence whether the party bringing the motion is required to answer or proceed further”).
synonyms: word: demurrer
extra: a motion by a party to a legal action for the immediate or summary judgment of the court on the question of whether, assuming the truth of the matter alleged by the opposite party, it is sufficient in law to sustain the action or defence, and hence whether the party bringing the motion is required to answer or proceed further
Derived terms: demurrable