spurn, sporne, spurne, spurnen

t. & i. [A. S. speornan, gespeornan, gespornan =to kick against (pa. t. spearn, pl. spurn on, pa. par. spor nen); cogn. with Icel. sperna (pa. t. sparn )=to despise.] spurn, to kick with the feet; Latin sperno to A. Transitive : sputum A. Trans.: To throw out or eject in a stream οι jet, as water; to spout out; to drive or force out with violence, as from a narrow orifice; to squirt. B. In trans. To gush out in a small stream suddenly and forcibly, or at intervals, as blood from an artery, . (Usually followed by out .) "At last I perceived two white specks in the middle of out."- Dampier : Voyages, vol. ii., pt. iii., ch. iv IMG:content-0127.png:[blocks in formation] to despise; to treat with contempt. "Man spurns the worm, but pauses ere he wake The slumbering venom of the folded snake." Byron: Corsair, i. 11. B. Intransitive: *1. To kick or to up the heels. "The drunken chairman in the kennel spurns, The gla es shatters, and his charge o'erturns." Gay: Trivia, ii. 519. *2. To dash the foot against anything; to kick with the feet. "A leper lady rose, and to her wend, And sayd, Why spurnes thou again the wall?" Chaucer: Complaint of Creseide. 3. To manifest the greatest disdain or contempt in rejecting anything; to show contempt or disdain in resistance. "This pomp of pretension, which spurns at the idea of reform." - Knox: Liberal Education . (App.) spūrn, *spurne, s. [SPURN, v.] I. Ordinary Language : *1. A blow with the foot; a kick. "And what defense can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this, but either the slap or the spurn ?"- Milton : Col aster i on . 2. Disdainful or contemptuous rejection; an insult. "The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes." Shakesp.: Hamlet, iii. 1. IMG:content-0128.png:[blocks in formation] and vigorous temporary effort in an emergency, as in running, rowing, . "Pitman spurted in a most determined manner." Field , April 4, 1885. spürt (1), s. [SPURT (1), v.] 1. A forcible gush of liquid from a confined place or narrow orifice; a jet. "See the breeze curling on the water on both sides of us, and sometimes get a spurt of it."-Dampier: Voyages, vol. ii., pt. iii., ch. iv. 2. A short, sudden outbreak. "A sudden spurt of woman's jealousy." *3. A shoot, a bud. spurt-gra , s. Bot .: Scirpus maritimus . Tennyson: Vivien , 374.