demurring
noun1
demurral
- After some legal demurrings, it was allowed[…]1825, Mary Sabilla Novello, A Day in Stowe Gardens, page 264:
demurring
adj1
Reluctant; tending or serving to demur.
- And that mode of expression is very demurring and self-deprecating. Victorian English was all about understatement.2004, Rowan Manahan, Where's My Oasis?:, page 158:
- "I'm the hostess, it would be unsociable for me to leave," I said, flashing him my most demurring smile.2006, Scarlett O'Hara Can Go to Hell, page 173:
1 more example
- Well, if he, Karl, owned a pair of pants like that it would be no trick at all to captivate the most demurring siren.2017, Bertita Harding, Golden Fleece:
- Derived terms
- demurringly, undemurring