Contempt

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Contempt \Con*tempt"\ (k[o^]n*t[e^]mt"; 215), n. [L. contemptus,
     fr. contemnere: cf. OF. contempt. See {Contemn}.]
     1. The act of contemning or despising; the feeling with which
        one regards that which is esteemed mean, vile, or
        worthless; disdain; scorn.
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              Criminal contempt of public feeling.  --Macaulay.
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              Nothing, says Longinus, can be great, the contempt
              of which is great.                    --Addison.
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     2. The state of being despised; disgrace; shame.
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              Contempt and begarry hangs upon thy back. --Shak.
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     3. An act or expression denoting contempt.
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              Little insults and contempts.         --Spectator.
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              The contempt and anger of his lip.    --Shak.
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     4. (Law) Disobedience of the rules, orders, or process of a
        court of justice, or of rules or orders of a legislative
        body; disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent language or
        behavior in presence of a court, tending to disturb its
        proceedings, or impair the respect due to its authority.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Contempt is in some jurisdictions extended so as to
           include publications reflecting injuriously on a court
           of justice, or commenting unfairly on pending
           proceedings; in other jurisdictions the courts are
           prohibited by statute or by the constitution from thus
           exercising this process.
  
     Syn: Disdain; scorn; derision; mockery; contumely; neglect;
          disregard; slight.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  contempt
       n 1: lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike;
            "he was held in contempt"; "the despite in which
            outsiders were held is legendary" [syn: {disdain}, {scorn},
             {despite}]
       2: a manner that is generally disrespectful and contemptuous
          [syn: {disrespect}]
       3: open disrespect for a person or thing [syn: {scorn}]
       4: a willful disobedience to or disrespect for the authority of
          a court or legislative body

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  126 Moby Thesaurus words for "contempt":
     abhorrence, abjuration, abjurement, affront, antipathy, arrogance,
     aspersion, atrocity, audacity, aversion, bold front, boldness,
     brash bearing, brashness, brassiness, bravado, brazenfacedness,
     brazenness, brickbat, bumptiousness, cheekiness, chucking,
     chucking out, cockiness, contemptuousness, contradiction,
     contumacy, contumely, cut, daring, daringness, declination,
     declining, defial, defiance, defying, denial, denigration,
     deprecation, depreciation, derision, despisal, despising, despite,
     disapproval, discard, disclamation, discommendation, discounting,
     discredit, disdain, disesteem, disfavor, disgust, dishonor,
     dismissal, disownment, disparagement, dispraise, disregard,
     disrepute, disrespectfulness, distaste, disvaluation, dump,
     enormity, exception, exclusion, face of brass, flippancy, flout,
     flouting, freshness, gibe, hate, hatred, humiliation, ignominy,
     ignoring, impertinence, impudence, indignity, infamy, injury,
     insolence, insult, jeer, jeering, loathing, mock, mockery,
     nonacceptance, nonapproval, nonconsideration, odium, offense,
     opprobrium, outrage, passing by, pertness, put-down, putting away,
     putting out, rebuff, recalcitrance, recantation, refusal,
     rejection, renouncement, repudiation, repugnance, repulse,
     ridicule, rudeness, sauciness, scoff, scorn, scouting, scurrility,
     shame, spurning, stubbornness, taunt, throwing out, turning out,
     uncomplimentary remark
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CONTEMPT, crim. law. A willful disregard or disobedience of a public 
  authority. 
       2. By the Constitution of the United States, each house of congress may 
  determine the rules of its proceeding's, punish its members for disorderly 
  behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. The same 
  provision is substantially contained in the constitutions of the several 
  states. 
       3. The power to make rules carries that of enforcing them, and to 
  attach persons who violate them, and punish them for contempts. This power 
  of punishing for contempts, is confined to punishment during the session of 
  the legislature, and cannot extend beyond it; 6 Wheat. R. 204, 230, 231 and, 
  it seems this power cannot be exerted beyond imprisonment. 
       4. Courts of justice have an inherent power to punish all persons for 
  contempt of their rules and orders, for disobedience of their process, and 
  for disturbing them in their proceedings. Bac. Ab. Courts and their 
  jurisdiction in general, E; Rolle's Ab. 219; 8 Co. 38 11 Co. 43 b.; 8 Shepl. 
  550; 5 Ired. R. 199. 
       5. In some states, as in Pennsylvania, the power to punish for 
  contempts is restricted to offences committed by the officers of the court, 
  or in its presence, or in disobedience of its mandates, orders, or rules; 
  but no one is guilty of a contempt for any publication made or act done out 
  of court, which is not in violation of such lawful rules or orders, or 
  disobedience of its process. Similar provisions, limiting the power of the 
  courts of the United States to punish for contempts, are incorporated in the 
  Act March 2, 1831. 4 Sharsw. cont. of Stor. L. U. S. 2256. See Oswald's 
  Case, 4 Lloyd's Debates, 141,. et seq. 
       6. When a person is in prison for a contempt, it has been decided in 
  New York that he cannot be discharged by another judge, when brought before 
  him on a habeas corpus; and, according to Chancellor Kent, 3 Com. 27, it 
  belongs exclusively to the court offended to judge of contempts, and what 
  amounts to them; and no other court or judge can, or ought to undertake, in 
  a collateral way, to question or review an adjudication of a contempt made 
  by another competent jurisdiction. 
       This way be considered as the established doctrine equally in England 
  as in this country. 3 Wils. 188 14 East, R. 12 Bay, R. 182 6 Wheat. R. 204 7 
  Wheat. R. 38; 1 Breese, R. 266 1 J. J. Marsh. 575; Charlt. R. 136; 1 Blackf. 
  1669 Johns. 395 6 John. 337. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  CONTEMPT, n.  The feeling of a prudent man for an enemy who is too
  formidable safely to be opposed.