taunt meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

taunt

verb

UK /tɔːnt/ · US /tɔnt/

Etymology From Middle French tanter (“to tempt, try, provoke”), variant of Old French tempter (“to try”). Doublet of tempt.

To make fun of (someone); to goad (a person) into responding, often in an aggressive manner.

noun

Etymology From Middle French tanter (“to tempt, try, provoke”), variant of Old French tempter (“to try”). Doublet of tempt.

A scornful or mocking remark; a jeer or mockery.

VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vi], page 100, column 1:
The attacks and the failure to catch the killer created an atmosphere of fear and dismay throughout Yorkshire, and provoked grim taunts to the police at Leeds United football matches such as “Ripper 10, Police nil”2020 November 13, Duncan Campbell, “Peter Sutcliffe obituary”, in The Guardian:

adj

Etymology Compare Old French tant (“so great”), French tant (“so much”), Latin tantus (“of such size, so great, so much”). See ataunt.

the great ships, for want of ſufficient masts, will lose the advantages the taunt masts would procure1764, Duhamel du Monceau, The Elememts of Naval Architecture:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.