ghastness
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English gastnes, gastnesse, from gast, past participle of gasten (“to terrify”), equivalent to ghast + -ness.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editghastness (uncountable)
- (archaic) Amazement; terror; fright; fear.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- Look you pale, mistress?―Do you perceive the ghastness of her eye?