shamefast

English

Etymology

From Middle English shamefast, schamefast, schamfast, sceomefest, from Old English sċamfæst (“modest”), corresponding to shame +‎ fast.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃeɪmfɑːst/

Adjective

shamefast (comparative more shamefast, superlative most shamefast)

1. (archaic) Bashful, modest; shy.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     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.

Derived terms

• shamefaced
• shamefastly
• shamefastness

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• shamfast, ssamvest, shomefaste, sceomefest, shomevaste

Etymology

From Old English sċamfæst, equivalent to shame +‎ fast.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃaːmfast/

Adjective

shamefast

1. modest, humble, virtuous, bashful, shy, timid

Descendants

• English: shamefast
• Scots: schamefast, schamfast
• Yola: shaamfast

References

• “shāmefast(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.