demur

From Middle English demuren, from Anglo-Norman demorer (French demeurer), from Vulgar Latin demorō, Latin demoror (“to tarry”), from de- + moror (“to delay”).[1]

See alternative etymology in the Anglo-Norman ancestor.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: dĭmûrʹ, IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɜː/
• (General American) enPR: dĭmûrʹ, IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɝ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Distinguish from pronunciation of demure

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demur (third-person singular simple present demurs, present participle demurring, simple past and past participle demurred)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To linger; to stay; to tarry
2. (intransitive) To delay; to pause; to suspend proceedings or judgment in view of a doubt or difficulty; to hesitate; to put off the determination or conclusion of an affair.
   • 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward the Sixth:

     Vpon this rubbe the English Embassadors thought fit to demurre

   • 1920, [Elizabeth von Arnim], In the Mountains, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, page 180:

     Work with my hands out of doors was the only thing I felt I could bear to-day. It wasn't the first time, I reflected, that peace has been found among cabbages. / Antoine demurred, of course, but did at last consent to let me pick red currants.

3. (intransitive) To scruple or object; to take exception; to oppose; to balk

   I demur to that statement.

   The personnel demurred at the management's new scheme.

4. (intransitive, law) To interpose a demurrer.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To suspend judgment concerning; to doubt of or hesitate about
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     The latter I demur, for in their looks / Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To cause delay to; to put off
   • 1635, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “Canto XI. Cant[icles] III. II.”, in Emblemes, London: […] G[eorge] M[iller] and sold at at Iohn Marriots shope […], →OCLC, book IV, stanza 4, page 226:

     I ask'd the Lavvyer; He demands a Fee, / And then demurres me vvith a vaine delay: […]

• demurrage
• demurral
• demurrer

demur (plural demurs)

1. An act of hesitation as to proceeding; a scruple; also, a suspension of action or decision; a pause, a stop.
   • 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 37:

     If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.

   • 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 4, lines 65–66:

     All my demurrs but double his attacks; / At laſt he vvhiſpers, "Do; and vve go ſnacks."

   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 132:

     Most geologists today would accept such evidence without demur, but it was still ‘fringe’ science when du Toit was publishing.

• MUDer, mured

dēmur

1. first-person plural present passive subjunctive of dō

demur

1. Alternative form of demure (“demure”)