Scorn | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Scōrn, n.

noun

n. [O. Fr. escorne, affront, shame, escorner, to humiliate, outrage, N. Fr. écorner, to break off the horns, to curtail, to diminish, from Lat. ex, from, and cornu, a horn; Pr. escornar, It. scornare, to break off the horns, to affront, to scorn.]

Sense 1. Extreme and passionate contempt; that disdain which springs from a person's opinion of the utter meanness and unworthiness of an object.

Every sullen frown and bitter scorn But fanned the fuel that too fast did burn. Dryden.

Sense 2. That which is scorned or thought worthy of contempt; an object of extreme disdain, contempt, or derision.

Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Ps. xliv. 13.

To think scorn, to regard as worthy of scorn, contempt, or reprobation; to disdain. “He thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone.” Esther iii. 6. — To laugh to scorn, to deride; to make a mock of; to ridicule as contemptible.

Synonyms—Contempt; disdain; derision; contumely; despite; slight; dishonor; contempt.

Scōrn, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. SCORNED; p. pr. & vb. n. SCORNING.] To hold in extreme contempt; to think utterly unworthy of one; to despise; to contemn; to disdain; to slight. I scorn thy meat; 'twould choke me. Shak. This my long sufferance and my day of grace, Those who neglect and scorn, shall never taste. Milton. Syn.—To contemn; despise; slight; disdain; neglect; disregard. See CONTEMN.

Scōrn, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. To scoff; to show contumely, derision, or reproach. [Obs.] He said mine eyes were black, and my hair black, And, now I am remembered, scorned at me. Shak.