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To assert the contrary of; to oppose in words; to take issue with; to gainsay; to deny the truth of, as of a statement or a speaker; to impugn. Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself, And say it is not so. Shak. The future can not contradict the past. Wordsworth.

A so-called immediate inference which consists in denying the original subject of the contradictory predicate; e.g.: Every S is P; therefore, no Not-P is S.

orporeal; materiality. The one attributed corporeity to God. Bp. Stillingfleet. Those who deny light to be matter, do not therefore deny its corporeity. Coleridge.

, the ideas of which only the mind has direct cognizance. The cosmothetic idealists . . . deny that mind is immediately conscious of matter. Sir W. Hamilton.

To plead the contrary of; to plead against; to deny.

He asked water, a creature so common and needful that it was against the law of nature to deny him. Fuller. God's first creature was light. Bacon. On earth, join, all ye creatures, to extol Him first, him last, him midst, and without end. Milton. And most attractive is the fair result Of thought, the creature of a poli…

To utter imprecations or curses; to affirm or deny with imprecations; to swear. Then began he to curse and to swear. Matt. xxi. 74. His spirits hear me, And yet I need must curse. Shak.

affect delicacy or fastidiousness. [Obs.] Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all Will now deny to dance She that makes dainty, She, I'll swear, hath corns. Shak.

er; to preclude; to hinder from approach, entry, or enjoyment; to shut out or exclude; to deny or refuse; -- with from, and sometimes with of. Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed Labor, as to debar us when we need Refreshment. Milton. Their wages were so low as to debar them, not only from the comforts but from t…

To deny the right of the plaintiff in regard to (the suit, or the wrong charged); to oppose or resist, as a claim at law; to contest, as a suit. Burrill.

d of a deist; the belief or system of those who acknowledge the existence of one God, but deny revelation.

To deny. [Obs.] That with great rage he stoutly doth denay. Spenser.

To deny. [Obs.]

To refuse to acknowledge; to deny; to disown. [Obs.] South.

To assert the contrary of; to contradict; to deny; -- said of that which has been asserted.

To refuse to allow; to deny the force or validity of; to disown and reject; as, the judge disallowed the executor's charge. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God. 1 Pet. ii. 4. That the edicts of Cæsar we may at all times disallow, but the statutes of God for no reason we m…

To refuse strongly and solemnly to own or acknowledge; to deny responsibility for, approbation of, an the like; to disclaim; to disown; as, he was charged with embezzlement, but he disavows the crime. A solemn promise made and disavowed. Dryden.

To renounce all claim to deny; ownership of, or responsibility for; to disown; to disavow; to reject. He calls the gods to witness their offense; Disclaims the war, asserts his innocence. Dryden. He disclaims the authority of Jesus. Farmer.

To refuse to own or acknowledge as belonging to one's self; to disavow or deny, as connected with one's self personally; as, a parent can hardly disown his child; an author will sometimes disown his writings.

to overthrow; to controvert; to express dissent or opposition to; to call in question; to deny the truth or validity of; as, to dispute assertions or arguments. To seize goods under the disputed authority of writs of assistance. Bancroft.