shamefast

English

Etymology

Old English scamfæst, corresponding to shame +‎ fast.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈʃeɪmfɑːst/

Adjective

shamefast (comparative more shamefast, superlative most shamefast)

  1. (archaic) Bashful, modest; shy.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ii:
      With chaunge of cheare the seeming simple maid / Let fall her eyen, as shamefast to the earth [...].
    • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 141:
      But the women are alwayes covered about their middles with a skin, and very shamefast to be seene bare.
Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 20:53