Word Direct Answers

demean

demean is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 6 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. They have demeaned themselves Like men born to renown by life or death. Shak. They answered . . . that they should demean themselves according to their instructions. Clarendon.
  2. 2.To debase; to lower; to degrade; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. Her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter. Thackeray. Note: This sense is probably due to a false etymology which regarded the word as connected with the adjective mean.
  3. 3.Management; treatment. [Obs.] Vile demean and usage bad. Spenser.
  4. 4.Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor. [Obs.] With grave demean and solemn vanity. West.
  5. 5.Demesne. [Obs.]
  6. 6.pl. Resources; means. [Obs.] You know How narrow our demeans are. Massinger.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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