v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Demeaned p. pr. & vb. n. Demeaning. ] [ OF. demener to conduct, guide, manage, F. se démener to struggle; pref. dé- (L. de) + mener to lead, drive, carry on, conduct, fr. L. minare to drive animals by threatening cries, fr. minari to threaten. See Menace. ] 1. To manage; to conduct; to treat. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Our ] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

They have demeaned themselves
Like men born to renown by life or death. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

They answered . . . that they should demean themselves according to their instructions. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To debase; to lower; to degrade; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This sense is probably due to a false etymology which regarded the word as connected with the adjective mean. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. demene. See Demean, v. t. ] 1. Management; treatment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Vile demean and usage bad. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With grave demean and solemn vanity. West. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Demesne. ] 1. Demesne. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. Resources; means. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

You know
How narrow our demeans are. Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Demeanor. [ Obs. ] Skelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also demeanour. ] [ For demeanure, fr. demean. See Demean, v. t. ] 1. Management; treatment; conduct. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

God commits the managing so great a trust . . . wholly to the demeanor of every grown man. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behavior; deportment; carriage; bearing; mien. [ 1913 Webster ]

His demeanor was singularly pleasing. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

The men, as usual, liked her artless kindness and simple refined demeanor. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Behavior. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To behave ill; -- with a reflexive pronoun; as, to misdemean one's self. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One guilty of a misdemeanor. Sydney Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Ill behavior; evil conduct; fault. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) A crime less than a felony. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ As a rule, in the old English law, offenses capitally punishable were felonies; all other indictable offenses were misdemeanors. In common usage, the word crime is employed to denote the offenses of a deeper and more atrocious dye, while small faults and omissions of less consequence are comprised under the gentler name of misdemeanors. Blackstone.

The distinction, however, between felonies and misdemeanors is purely arbitrary, and is in most jurisdictions either abrogated or so far reduced as to be without practical value. Cf. Felony. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Misdeed; misconduct; misbehavior; fault; trespass; transgression. [ 1913 Webster ]