DEME
Deme, n. Etym: [Gr.
1. (Gr. Antiq.)
Defn: A territorial subdivision of Attica (also of modern Greece), corresponding to a township. Jowett (Thucyd).
2. (Biol.)
Defn: An undifferentiated aggregate of cells or plastids.
DEMEAN De*mean", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Demeaned; p. pr. & vb. n. Demeaning.] Etym: [OF. demener to conduct, guide, manage, F. se démener to struggledé- (L. de) + mener to lead, drive, carry on, conduct, fr. L. minare to drive animals by threatening cries, fr. minari to threaten. See Menace.]
1. To manage; to conduct; to treat. [Our] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton.
2. To conduct; to behave; to comport; — followed by the reflexive pronoun. They have demeaned themselves Like men born to renown by life or death. Shak. They answered . . . that they should demean themselves according to their instructions. Clarendon.
3. To debase; to lower; to degrade; — followed by the reflexive
pronoun.
Her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter.
Thackeray.
Note: This sense is probably due to a false etymology which regarded the word as connected with the adjective mean.