de·mean /dɪˈmin/
 (vt.)貶低身分,舉止


 De·mean v. t. [imp. & p. p. Demeaned p. pr. & vb. n. Demeaning.]
 1. To manage; to conduct; to treat.
    [Our] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter.   --Milton.
 2. To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun.
 They have demeaned themselves
 Like men born to renown by life or death.   --Shak.
    They answered . . . that they should demean themselves according to their instructions.   --Clarendon.
 3. To debase; to lower; to degrade; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun.
    Her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter.   --Thackeray.
 Note: ☞ This sense is probably due to a false etymology which regarded the word as connected with the adjective mean.


 De·mean n.
 1. Management; treatment. [Obs.]
    Vile demean and usage bad.   --Spenser.
 2. Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor. [Obs.]
    With grave demean and solemn vanity.   --West.


 De·mean, n.
 1. Demesne. [Obs.]
 2. pl. Resources; means. [Obs.]
 You know
 How narrow our demeans are.   --Massinger.

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 demean
      v : reduce in worth or character, usually verbally; "She tends
          to put down younger women colleagues"; "His critics took
          him down after the lecture" [syn: take down, degrade,
           disgrace, put down]