(1595) From de- + mean (“lowly, base, common”), from Middle English mene, aphetic variation of imene (“mean, base, common”), from Old English ġemǣne (“mean, common”). Compare English bemean.
Meanings
(transitive) To debase; to lower; to degrade.
It was, of course, Mrs. Sedley's opinion that her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter. 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 6, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
I liked to feel him attempt to demean me when I was sure there was no way he actually could. 2026 June 12, Emily Ratajkowski, “Mother F*cker”, in The Cut:
From Middle English demenen, demeinen, from Anglo-Norman demener, from Old French demener, from de- + mener (“to conduct, lead”), from Latin mināre, from minārī (“to threaten”).
Pursu'd him streight, in mynd to bene ywroken / Of all the vile demeane, and vsage bad 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18:
‘When thou hast all this doen, then bring me newes / Of his demeane […].’ 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
with grave demean and solemn vanity 1739, Gilbert West, A canto of the Fairy Queen (later called On the Abuse of Travelling)
From Middle English demenen, demeinen, from Anglo-Norman demener, from Old French demener, from de- + mener (“to conduct, lead”), from Latin mināre, from minārī (“to threaten”).
Meanings
(obsolete, transitive) To manage; to conduct; to treat.
But now, as our obdurate clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:
(archaic, transitive) To conduct; to behave; to comport; followed by the reflexive pronoun.
They answered […] that they should demean themselves according to their instructions. 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater:
they have demean'd themselves
Like men born to renown by life or death. c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third 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 iv]:
fi vähätellä (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · de führen (to conduct; to behave; to comport) · de kleinmachen (to humble, humble oneself; to humiliate) · nl behandelen (to manage; to conduct; to treat) · es gestionar (to manage; to conduct; to treat) · de erniedrigen (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · fi häpäistä (to mortify) · es degradar (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · de führen (to manage; to conduct; to treat) · es conducir (to manage; to conduct; to treat) · de herabsetzen (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · fi käyttäytyä (to conduct; to behave; to comport) · nl neerhalen (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · de benehmen (to conduct; to behave; to comport) · de behandeln (to manage; to conduct; to treat) · de aufführen (to conduct; to behave; to comport) · de demütigen (to humble, humble oneself; to humiliate) · es menospreciar (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · nl gedragen (to manage; to conduct; to treat) · fi käyttäytyä (to manage; to conduct; to treat) · bg унижавам (to humble, humble oneself; to humiliate) · de erniedrigen (to humble, humble oneself; to humiliate) · fi nöyrtyä (to humble, humble oneself; to humiliate) · nl vernederen (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · bg държа се (to conduct; to behave; to comport) · fi halventaa (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · de verhalten (to conduct; to behave; to comport) · es humillar (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · fi alentaa (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · de beschämen (to mortify) · it svilire (to debase; to lower; to degrade) · de herabwürdigen (to debase; to lower; to degrade)
(transitive) To subtract the mean from (a value, or every observation in a data set).
Concerning FE estimation, it makes no difference whether you demean the data with unit-specific means computed on (balanced) T observations per unit, or with unit-specific means computed on (unbalanced) Tᵢ observations per unit. 2013, Hans-Jürgen Andreß, Katrin Golsch, Alexander W. Schmidt, Applied Panel Data Analysis for Economic and Social Surveys, page 177: