(1):

(n.) An act of malice, hatred, or defiance; contemptuous defiance; a deed of contempt.

(2):

(n.) Malice; malignity; spite; malicious anger; contemptuous hate.

(3):

(n.) To vex; to annoy; to offend contemptuously.

(4):

(prep.) In spite of; against, or in defiance of; notwithstanding; as, despite his prejudices.