A Dictionary of the English Language/abash

by Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

To Aba′sh. v. a. [See Bashful. Perhaps from abaisser, French.]

l.

To put into confusion; to make ashamed. It generally implies a sudden impression of shame.

They heard, and were abash'd.Milton's Paradise Lost, b. i. l. 331..

This heard, th' imperious queen sat mute with fear;
Nor further durst incense the gloomy thunderer.
Silence was in the court at this rebuke:
Nor could the gods, abash'd, sustain their sovereign's look.Dryden's Fables..

2.

The passive admits the particle at, sometimes of, before the causal noun.

In no wise speak against the truth, but be abashed of the error of thy ignorance.Ecclus. iv. 25.

I said unto her, From whence is this kid? Is it not stolen? But she replied upon me, it was given for a gift, more than the wages: however, I did not believe her, and I was abashed at her.[[Author:|Tob. ii. 13, 14]].

In the admiration only of weak minds
Led captive: ceaae t' admire, and all her plumes
Fall flat, and sink into a trivial toy,
At every sudden slighting quite abasht.Milton's Paradise Lost, b. ii. l. 213.

The little Cupids hov'ring round,
(As pictures pruve) with garlands crown'd,
Abash'd at what they saw and heard,
Flew off, nor ever more appear'd.Swift's Miscellanies.