DEIGN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Deign

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/deɪn/ Listen

verb

Deign v. t. (past & past part. deigned; pres. part. deigning)

To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; opposed to disdain. (Obs.) "I fear my Julia would not deign my lines."

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."

Deign v. i. To think worthy; to vouchsafe; to condescend; - - followed by an infinitive. "O deign to visit our forsaken seats." "Yet not Lord Cranstone deigned she greet." "Round turned he, as not deigning Those craven ranks to see." Note: In early English deign was often used impersonally. "Him deyneth not to set his foot to ground."

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Etymology of 'Deign'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Deign" Quotes from Famous Books

... We observe with eager scrutiny the wanderings of these erratic comets. They appear suddenly with their vapoury tails; sometimes they shine upon us with their soft, silvery light, brilliant as another moon; sometimes they stand afar off in the distant skies, and deign not to approach our steady-going earth, which pursues its regular course day by day, and year by year. Then, after a few days' coy inspection of our planet from different points of view, they fly to other remote parts of the universe, and do not condescend to show themselves ...

— The Romance of Mathematics • P. Hampson

... so much confide in his own veracity and fidelity, and so much stand upon them, that he should not deign to offer any pledge for them, implying ...

— Sermons on Evil-Speaking • Isaac Barrow

... murmur their admiration. There are hearts beating under hunting-shirts that rarely deign to dream of ...

— The Scalp Hunters • Mayne Reid

... moistening his eyes with the tears of repentance, assuming his most thrilling tones, his most pathetic manner, he cried, joining his hands with a gesture of despair: "Oh, my father: I am very unhappy! after so many years—to see you again, and at such a moment! I must appear so culpable to you! But deign to listen to me, I entreat you—I supplicate you; permit me, not to justify myself, but to explain to you my conduct; ...

— The Mysteries of Paris V2 • Eugene Sue

... deign to glance at her; and five or six attempts to sell a stick of candy were failures; but when she remembered the success that had followed her disappointment in the morning, she did not lose her courage. Finding that people in the street ...

— Poor and Proud - or The Fortunes of Katy Redburn • Oliver Optic

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