Spurn, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spurned; p. pr. & vb. n. Spurning.]
Etymology: [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise, Skr. sphur to jerk, to push. sq. root171. See Spur.]
1. To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [The bird] with his foot will spurn adown his cup. Chaucer. I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. Shak.
2. To reject with disdain; to scorn to receive or accept; to treat with contempt. What safe and nicely I might well delay By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn. Shak. Domestics will pay a more cheerful service when they find themselves not spurned because fortune has laid them at their master's feet. Locke.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Spurn, v. i.
1. To kick or toss up the heels. The miller spurned at a stone. Chaucer. The drunken chairman in the kennel spurns. Gay.
2. To manifest disdain in rejecting anything; to make contemptuous opposition or resistance. Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image. Shak.
Spurn, n.
1. A kick; a blow with the foot. [R.] What defence can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this but either the slap or the spurn Milton.
2. Disdainful rejection; contemptuous tratment. The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes. Shak.
3. (Mining)
A body of coal left to sustain an overhanding mass.
Shades of meaning
Fernald lists spurn only as an antonym, under venerate.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.