demur

Etymology

From Middle English demuren, from Anglo-Norman demorer (French demeurer), from Vulgar Latin demorō, Latin demoror (“to tarry”), from de- + moror (“to delay”). See alternative etymology in the Anglo-Norman ancestor.

verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To linger; to stay; to tarry
2. (intransitive) To delay; to pause; to suspend proceedings or judgment in view of a doubt or difficulty; to hesitate; to put off the determination or conclusion of an affair.
   Vpon this rubbe the English Embassadors thought fit to demurre 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward the Sixth
   Work with my hands out of doors was the only thing I felt I could bear to-day. It wasn't the first time, I reflected, that peace has been found among cabbages. / Antoine demurred, of course, but did at last consent to let me pick red currants. 1920, Elizabeth von Arnim], In the Mountains, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, page 180
3. (intransitive) To scruple or object; to take exception; to oppose; to balk
   I demur to that statement.
   The personnel demurred at the management's new scheme.
4. (intransitive, law) To interpose a demurrer.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To suspend judgment concerning; to doubt of or hesitate about
6. (transitive, obsolete) To cause delay to; to put off

noun

1. An act of hesitation as to proceeding; a scruple; also, a suspension of action or decision; a pause, a stop.
   Most geologists today would accept such evidence without demur, but it was still ‘fringe’ science when du Toit was publishing. 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 132