All 3 Uses of
spurn
in
A Midsummer Night's Dream
- I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you: Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, Unworthy as I am, to follow you.†
Scene 2.1 *spurn = reject as not good enough
- And made your other love, Demetrius,— Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,— To call me goddess, nymph, divine, and rare, Precious, celestial?†
Scene 3.2
- I evermore did love you, Hermia; Did ever keep your counsels; never wrong'd you; Save that, in love unto Demetrius, I told him of your stealth unto this wood: He follow'd you; for love I follow'd him; But he hath chid me hence, and threaten'd me To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too: And now, so you will let me quiet go, To Athens will I bear my folly back, And follow you no farther.†
Scene 3.2
Definitions:
-
(1)
(spurn) reject as not good enough
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Less commonly, and archaically, spurn can mean to strike or kick.