What does "insult" mean?
Insult: Gross abuse offered to another, either by word or act; an act or speech of insolence or contempt; an affront; an indignity. The ruthless sneer that insult adds to grief. Savage. See Affront.
Additional senses
- 2.To leap or trample upon; to make a sudden onset upon. [Obs.] Shak.
- 3.To treat with abuse, insolence, indignity, or contempt, by word or action; to abuse; as, to call a man a coward or a liar, or to sneer at him, is to insult him.
- 4.To leap or jump. Give me thy knife, I will insult on him. Shak. Like the frogs in the apologue, insulting upon their wooden king. Jer. Taylor.
- 5.To behave with insolence; to exult. [Archaic] The lion being dead, even hares insult. Daniel. An unwillingness to insult over their helpless fatuity. Landor.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00