demean /dɪˈmiːn/verb 6noun 4forms 5 verb6 •To debase; to lower; to degrade.It was, of course, Mrs. Sedley's opinion that her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter. — 1847 •To humble; to humiliate. •To mortify. •To subtract the mean from (a value, or every observation in a data set). •(no longer used) To conduct; to behave; to comport; followed by the reflexive pronoun.they have demean'd themselves Like men born to renown by life or death. — 1591 •(no longer used) To manage; to conduct; to treat.But now, as our obdurate clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. — 1644 noun4 •demesne. •resources; means. •(no longer used) Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor.‘When thou hast all this doen, then bring me newes / Of his demeane […].’ — 1596 •(no longer used) Management; treatment.Pursu'd him streight, in mynd to bene ywroken / Of all the vile demeane, and vsage bad — 1596 formsdemeaned · demeaning · demeaneth · demeans · demeanest
