deny

Etymology

From Middle English denyen, from Old French denoier (“to deny, to repudiate”) (French dénier), from Latin denegare (“to deny, to refuse”), from de- (“away”) and negare (“to refuse”), the latter ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ne (“no, not”). Doublet of denegate.

verb

1. (transitive) To disallow or reject.
   I wanted to go to the party, but I was denied.
   'Do! pray do! I shall be the most miserable of men if you don't. You cannot be so cruel as to deny me a favour so easily granted and yet so highly prized!' pleaded he as ardently as if his life depended on it. 1847, Anne Brontë, chapter XVI, in Agnes Grey
2. (transitive) To assert that something is not true.
   I deny that I was at the party.
   Everyone knows he committed the crime, but he still denies it.
   [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […] 1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 40
   But Myler and Crone told the committee in September that they had made Murdoch aware at the 10 June 2008 meeting that hacking was not restricted to a single journalist. They claimed this was the reason Murdoch agreed to settle the Taylor's case. James Murdoch subsequently wrote to the committee to deny this. November 1, 2011, James Robinson, Lisa O'Carroll, “Phone hacking: NoW warned about 'culture of illegal information access'”, in The Guardian
3. (ditransitive) To refuse to give or grant something to someone.
   My father denied me a good education.
   To some men, it is more agreeable to deny a vicious inclination, than to gratify it. 1754, Jonathan Edwards, An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that Freedom of the Will which is supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency
   A mother who urgently needs a kidney transplant has branded the system which denied her the organs of her dying daughter as "ridiculous". April 12, 2008, “Mother denied daughter's organs”, in BBC
4. To take something away from someone; to deprive of.
5. (sports, transitive) To prevent from scoring.
   Another Karadeniz cross led to Cudicini's first save of the night, with the Spurs keeper making up for a weak punch by brilliantly pushing away Christian Noboa's snap-shot. Two more top-class stops followed quickly afterwards, first from Natcho's rasping shot which was heading into the top corner, and then to deny Ryazantsev at his near post. November 3, 2011, Chris Bevan, “Rubin Kazan 1 - 0 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport
6. To disclaim connection with, responsibility for, etc.; to refuse to acknowledge; to disown; to abjure; to disavow.
   thou thrice denied, yet thrice beloved 1827, John Keble, The Christian Year
7. (obsolete) To refuse (to do or accept something).