narguer

to taunt

“Ses regards devinrent plus hardis, ses discours plus libres; elle eut même l'inconvenance de se promener avec M. Rodolphe, une cigarette à la bouche, comme pour narguer le monde; […].” — Her looks grew bolder, her speech more free; she even committed the impropriety of walking out with Monsieur Rodolphe, a cigarette in her mouth, “as if to defy the people.”

Probably from Vulgar Latin *nārificō, a humorous derivation of Latin nāris (“nose”). through an intermediate Occitan nariguar.