Refuse encouragement, having taken note (5)
I believe the answer is:
spurn
'refuse' is the definition.
(spurning is a kind of refusing)
'encouragement having taken note' is the wordplay.
'encouragement' becomes 'spur' (spur is a kind of encouragement).
'having' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'taken note' becomes 'n' (abbreviation. I am not sure about the 'taken' bit.).
'spur'+'n'='SPURN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spurn that I've seen before include "Refuse with contempt" , "Despise" , "Contemptuously dismiss" , "Reject with contempt" , "Reject scornfully, rebuff" .)