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To manage; to conduct; to treat. [Our] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton.

Demeanor. [Obs.] Skelton.

treatment; conduct. [Obs.] God commits the managing so great a trust . . . wholly to the demeanor of every grown man. Milton.

Behavior. [Obs.] Spenser.

To behave ill; -- with a reflexive pronoun; as, to misdemean one's self.

One guilty of a misdemeanor. Sydney Smith.

Ill behavior; evil conduct; fault. Shak.

, judicially or by a public process; - - with of; as, to accuse one of a high crime or misdemeanor. Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. Acts xxiv. 13. We are accused of having persuaded Austria and Sardinia to lay down their arms. Macaulay.

ct; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (pl.): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor. The Lord is a Good of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 1 Sam. ii. 3.

To offend by some manifestation of disrespect; to insult to the face by demeanor or language; to treat with marked incivility. How can any one imagine that the fathers would have dared to affront the wife of Aurelius Addison.

The peculiar look, appearance, and bearing of a person; mien; demeanor; as, the air of a youth; a heavy air; a lofty air. "His very air." Shak.

To demean; to conduct; to behave; -- followed by a reflexive pronoun. [Obs.] How might we see Falstaff bestow himself to-night in his true colors, and not ourselves be seen Shak.

Dull; stupid. Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanor! Shak.

To intimidate with threats and by an overbearing, swaggering demeanor; to act the part of a bully toward. For the last fortnight there have been prodigious shoals of volunteers gone over to bully the French, upon hearing the peace was just signing. Tatler.

To bear (one's self); to behave, to conduct or demean; -- with the refexive pronouns. He carried himself so insolently in the house, and out of the house, to all persons, that he became odious. Clarendon.

Gross violation of human law, in distinction from a misdemeanor or trespass, or other slight offense. Hence, also, any aggravated offense against morality or the public welfare; any outrage or great wrong. "To part error from crime." Tennyson.

An offense or transgression against law; (Scots Law) an offense of a lesser degree; a misdemeanor. Every regulation of the civil code necessarily implies a delict in the event of its violation. Jeffrey.

Failure or omission of duty; a fault; a misdeed; an offense; a misdemeanor; a crime. The delinquencies of the little commonwealth would be represented in the most glaring colors. Motley.

To carry or demean; to conduct; to behave; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. Let an ambassador deport himself in the most graceful manner befor a prince. Pope.

Manner of deporting or demeaning one's self; manner of acting; conduct; carrige; especially, manner of acting with respect to the courtesies and duties of life; behavior; demeanor; bearing. The gravity of his deportment carried him safe through many difficulties. Swift.