| 释义 |
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.
1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye p. xlviii, They that do contempne me and forgette my charyte they do this to me. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 92 Who so contempneth you contempneth me. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iv. 129, I haue done pennance for contemning Loue. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. vi. 24 Those things which we neither Desire, nor Hate, we are said to Contemne. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. i. 381 Not that your Father's mildness I contemn. 1777Sheridan Trip Scarb. ii. i, I did not start at his addresses as when they came from one whom I contemned. 1876Geo. 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.
1609Bible (Douay) Deut. xxi. 18 A stubbourne and froward sonne, that..contemneth to be obedient. 1622Wither 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.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 195 His benefites if we forget, or do contemne his lawe. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Nov. 48 Let not my small demaund be so contempt. c1665Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 424 Mr. Cooper contemned my lords' order, and would not obey it. 1762Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) III. xlvi. 667 This counsel is not to be contemned. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 689 They..contemned and violated the engagement of treaties.
absol.1609Bible (Douay) Bel & Dr. i. 12 They contemned, because they had made under the table a secrete entrance [Vulg. contemnebant autem, quia, etc.]. |