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Insulting or contemptuous action or speech; contemptuous merriment; derision; ridicule. The laughingstock of fortune's mockeries. Spenser.

By way of derision; in a contemptuous or mocking manner.

A Frenchman. [Contemptuous] Shak.

The head; -- used jocosely or contemptuously. Come, master, I have a project in my noddle. L'Estrange.

at his blessed feet. Milton. Ode factor, one who makes, or who traffics in, odes; -- used contemptuously.

A gibe; a contemptuous remark.

A jocose or contemptuous name for an Irishman.

Nourishment or support from official patronage; as, treasury pap. [Colloq. & Contemptuous]

A small person; a pet; -- sometimes used contemptuously. [Obs.] Shak.

A familiar illustration; a subject of contemptuous reference. Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by word, among all nations. Deut. xxviii. 37.

To express disgust or contemptuous disapprobation, as by the exclamation " Pshaw!" The goodman used regularly to frown and pshaw wherever this topic was touched upon. Sir W. Scott.

To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously. I puff the prostitute away. Dryden.

A name of contemptuous reproach for a conceited and impertinent person. I found my place taken by an ill-bred, awkward puppy with a money bag under each arm. Addison.

White-faced; -- used contemptuously. Clarke.

A contemptuous term applied to an old woman. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A bare-legged person; -- a contemptuous appellation formerly given to the Scotch Highlanders, in allusion to their bare legs. Spenser.

to allege something disgracefull against; to charge with a fault; to censure severely or contemptuously; to upbraid. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ. 1 Peter iv. 14. That this newcomer, Shame, There sit not, and reproach us as unclean. Milton. Mezentius . . . with his ardor warmed His fainting friends, repr…

To address or abuse with opprobrious and contemptuous language; to reproach. "And did not she herself revile me there" Shak. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. 1 Pet. ii. 23.

The act of reviling; also, contemptuous language; reproach; abuse. Spenser.

designed to excite laughter with a degree of contempt; wit of that species which provokes contemptuous laughter; disparagement by making a person an object of laughter; banter; -- a term lighter than derision. We have in great measure restricted the meaning of ridicule, which would properly extend over whole region of…