Crossword clues for deign
deign
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Deign \Deign\ (d[=a]n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Deigned (d[=a]nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Deigning.] [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent, and cf. Dainty, Dignity, Condign, Disdain.]
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To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [Obs.]
I fear my Julia would not deign my lines.
--Shak. -
To condescend to give or bestow; to stoop to furnish; to vouchsafe; to allow; to grant.
Nor would we deign him burial of his men.
--Shak.
Deign \Deign\, v. i. To think worthy; to vouchsafe; to condescend; - - followed by an infinitive.
O deign to visit our forsaken seats.
--Pope.
Yet not Lord Cranstone deigned she greet.
--Sir W.
Scott.
Round turned he, as not deigning
Those craven ranks to see.
--Macaulay.
Note: In early English deign was often used impersonally.
Him deyneth not to set his foot to ground.
--Chaucer.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1300, from Old French deignier (Modern French daigner), from Latin dignari "to deem worthy or fit" (source of Italian degnare, Spanish deñar), from dignus "worthy" (see dignity). Sense of "take or accept graciously" led to that of "condescend" (1580s). Related: Deigned; deigning.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To condescend; to accept as appropriate to one's dignity. 2 (context transitive English) To condescend to give; to do something. 3 (context obsolete English) To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice.
WordNet
v. do something that one considers to be below one's dignity [syn: condescend, descend]
Usage examples of "deign".
Besides, if he ever deigned to give a thought to me, Versilov was most likely expecting a young boy just out of high school, still a mere adolescent, gaping at the world in wide-eyed wonderment.
Mr Ascher had got there without showing himself she did not deign to explain.
The person was the Chevalier de Wurtemburg, who, without deigning to cast even one glance on me, began to say sweet words to Coraline, and thrusting his head entirely out of his carriage he whispered to her.
Bozo has gone back to the wild, with most of her litter, and Bozo, together with one of his male pups, feeling the need for human companionship again, now that the urge for domesticity had waned, took to haunting the gates of Shondakor, and finally deigned to join us in the palace as a pet of the entire court.
She and Frier could be two countries away by the time Lady Delilah deigned to let Lucas into the inner family circle.
The red-haired boy must be Blaize Armontillado-Perez y Medoc, of a family so high that they barely deigned to recognize the Perez y de Gras connection.
I had the honour of sitting next the duchess at dinner, and she deigned to say that she had never seen a finer dress.
In half an hour they returned informing us that my lady had deigned to accept the invitation.
Let this new Samson remain in his native land, and by honoring it may he also honor the white hairs of his aging parents, for I shall be content with any squire at all, since Sancho does not deign to come with me.
Paphnutius, considering Cotta as nothing but an idolater, did not deign to reply.
The Other did not deign to reply, but Kennit had the satisfaction of seeing its air sacs puff with alarm.
Miranda deigned to accept this slightly warmer latte and even gave us a few moments of peace between ten and eleven, when she sat in her office with the door closed, cooing to B-DAD.
With an unhurried flourish Xanten whipped away a Mek who had leapt forward with a knife, and without deigning to aim fired at and destroyed the Mek who stood on the companionway, even as the slug sang past his head.
Clusters of dried herbs hung from the ceiling, and all among them were clumps of old boots, shriveled skins, battered pans, scrap-iron, sheep-skins, useless touloupes, and on the floor musty old clothes, moth-eaten furs, and sheep-skin coats that even a moujik of the swamps would not have deigned to wear.
I may weel do, since nither of my grandsons have deigned tae learn it.