dishonour

• dishonor (US)

From Old French deshonor, equivalent to dis- +‎ honour.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈɒnə(ɹ)/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /dɪzˈɒnəɹ/^[1]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

dishonour (countable and uncountable, plural dishonours) (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa)

1. Shame or disgrace.

   You have brought dishonour upon the family.

   • 1645, G. Gillespie, Nihil Respondes, section 11:

     That which were a dishonour to God the Son, were a dishonour to God the holy Ghost.

2. Lack of honour or integrity.
3. (law) Failure or refusal of the drawee or intended acceptor of a negotiable instrument, such as a bill of exchange or note, to accept it or, if it is accepted, to pay and retire it.

• unhonour

dishonour (third-person singular simple present dishonours, present participle dishonouring, simple past and past participle dishonoured) (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa)

1. To bring disgrace upon someone or something; to shame.

   You have dishonoured the family.

   • 1854, Robert Aitken, The teaching of the types, page 99:

     Still, in the very fullest blaze of gospel light, while we see that both Christ and His work are most ungratefully and flagrantly dishonoured, by our persistings in the attempt to do for ourselves what He has told us we cannot do, […]

2. To refuse to accept something, such as a cheque; to not honor.
   • 1684, Obadiah Walker, A Paraphrase and Annotations Upon All the Epistles of St Paul:

     disworshipping and dishonouring God

3. To violate or rape.
   • 1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash‎^[2]:

     “My men, the schooner coming up on our weather quarter is a Portuguese pirate. His character is known; he scuttles all the ships he boards, dishonours the women, and murders the crew.”