Definition of "contemn" [con•temn]

• To view with contempt; despise. See Synonyms at despise. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD."
• ""Because it is a trial," saith he, "and what if the sword contemn even the rod?""
• "Or, What if the sword contemn even the rod? that is, what if this sword make the former rods, as that or Sennacherib, to be contemned as nothing to this?"