refuse
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
refuse
n 1: food that is discarded (as from a kitchen) [syn: {garbage},
{refuse}, {food waste}, {scraps}]
v 1: show unwillingness towards; "he declined to join the group
on a hike" [syn: {refuse}, {decline}] [ant: {accept},
{consent}, {go for}]
2: refuse to accept; "He refused my offer of hospitality" [syn:
{refuse}, {reject}, {pass up}, {turn down}, {decline}] [ant:
{accept}, {have}, {take}]
3: elude, especially in a baffling way; "This behavior defies
explanation" [syn: {defy}, {resist}, {refuse}] [ant: {apply},
{lend oneself}]
4: refuse to let have; "She denies me every pleasure"; "he
denies her her weekly allowance" [syn: {deny}, {refuse}]
[ant: {allow}, {grant}]
5: resist immunologically the introduction of some foreign
tissue or organ; "His body rejected the liver of the donor"
[syn: {resist}, {reject}, {refuse}]
6: refuse entrance or membership; "They turned away hundreds of
fans"; "Black people were often rejected by country clubs"
[syn: {reject}, {turn down}, {turn away}, {refuse}] [ant:
{admit}, {allow in}, {intromit}, {let in}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Refuse \Re*fuse"\ (r?*f?z"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Refused}
(-f?zd"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Refusing}.] [F. refuser, either
from (assumed) LL. refusare to refuse, v. freq. of L.
refundere to pour back, give back, restore (see {Refund} to
repay), or. fr. L. recusare to decline, refuse cf. {Accuse},
{Ruse}), influenced by L. refutare to drive back, repel,
refute. Cf. {Refute}.]
1. To deny, as a request, demand, invitation, or command; to
decline to do or grant.
[1913 Webster]
That never yet refused your hest. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Mil.) To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the
center, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular aligment
when troops ar? about to engage the enemy; as, to refuse
the right wing while the left wing attacks.
[1913 Webster]
3. To decline to accept; to reject; to deny the request or
petition of; as, to refuse a suitor.
[1913 Webster]
The cunning workman never doth refuse
The meanest tool that he may chance to use.
--Herbert.
[1913 Webster]
4. To disown. [Obs.] "Refuse thy name." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
228 Moby Thesaurus words for "refuse":
abjure, afterglow, afterimage, balance, ban, bar, be unmoved,
be unwilling, beat back, beg off, bilge, bilgewater, bones,
brush aside, brush off, butt, butt end, candle ends, carrion,
castaway, castoff, chaff, chase, chase away, chase off, chuck,
chuck out, collateral, contemn, contradict, culm, cut, deadwood,
debar, debris, decline, decline to accept, deep six, deny,
deprive of, derelict, despise, detritus, dirt, disagree, disallow,
disapprove, discard, discarding, disclaim, discount, disdain,
dishwater, dismiss, disown, disposal, disregard, dissent,
ditchwater, dogie, draff, dregs, drive away, drive back, dross,
dump, dumping, dust, dustheap, elimination, embargo, end, enjoin,
except, exclude, exclude from, fag end, fend off, filings, flotsam,
flotsam and jetsam, forbid, forswear, fossil, foundling, garbage,
gash, hogwash, hold off, hold out against, holdover, husks, ignore,
inhibit, interdict, jetsam, jettison, junk, junking, keep back,
keep off, kelter, lagan, leavings, lees, leftovers, litter, lumber,
muck, negate, negative, not allow, not buy, not consent,
not hear of, not think of, odds and ends, offal, offscourings,
orphan, orts, outlaw, pack off, parings, pass by, pass up, pelf,
potsherds, preclude, prevent, prohibit, proscribe, push aside,
push back, put back, rags, raspings, rebuff, recant,
refuse consent, refuse to consider, reject, rejectamenta,
rejection, relics, remainder, remains, remnant, removal, renounce,
repel, repress, reprobate, repudiate, repulse, residue, residuum,
resist entreaty, resist persuasion, rest, riffraff, roach, rubbish,
ruins, rule out, rump, sawdust, say nay, say no, say no to,
scourings, scout, scrap iron, scrapping, scraps, scum, scurf,
send away, send off, send packing, sewage, sewerage, shadow,
shards, shavings, shove away, shut out, slack, slag, slop, slops,
slough, snub, spurn, stand aloof, straw, stubble, stump, suppress,
survival, sweepings, swill, taboo, tares, throw away, throw out,
throwaway, thrust back, trace, trash, turn away, turn back,
turn down, turn out, vestige, vote nay, vote negatively, waif,
waifs and strays, waive, ward off, wastage, waste, waste matter,
wastepaper, wastrel, weeds, withhold
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