verb (used with object)
- to treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff at; mock: to flout the rules of propriety.
verb (used without object)
- to show disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff, mock, or gibe (often followed by at).
noun
- a disdainful, scornful, or contemptuous remark or act; insult; gibe.
verb
- (when intr, usually foll by at) to show contempt (for); scoff or jeer (at)
1550s, perhaps a special use of Middle English flowten “to play the flute” (cf. Middle Dutch fluyten “to play the flute,” also “to jeer”). Related: Flouted; flouting.