Definition of "deign"

THE MAJOR-DOMO. Caesar will deign to choose his wine? Sicilian, Lesbian, Chian——

1898, George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra

"He will deign to finish this simple fare and wash it down with nothing more Lucullan than beer."

1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 192

Before I could knock, Bonnie opened the door. “Finally you deign to show up” were the first words said to me. It had been a year.

2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Nor would we deigne him buriall of his men, / Till he diſburſed, at Saint Colmes ynch, / Ten thouſand Dollars, to our generall vſe.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii], page 131, column 2

He, who usually hardly deigned a glance at his infants, now lay gazing with inexpressible softness and sadness at the little sleeping face […]

1871, Charlotte Mary Yonge, Heartsease, Or, The Brother's Wife, volume 2, page 189

Go, go, be gone, to ſaue your Ship from wrack, / Which cannot periſh hauing thee aboarde, / Being deſtin’d to a drier death on ſhore : / I muſt goe ſend ſome better Meſſenger, / I fear my Iulia would not daigne my lines, / Receiuing them from ſuch a worthleſſe poſt.

c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]