shamefacedness
(ˈʃeɪmfeɪstnɪs)
[-ness.]
The state or quality of being shamefaced.
1. Modesty, bashfulness, shyness.
| 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. viii. 181 A couering of honeste shamefacednesse. 1608 Pennyless Parl. §3 in Harl. Misc. (1744) I. 176 Some Maidens shall blush more for Shame, than for Shame-facedness. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. iv. (1626) 74 He blusht for shame; Not knowing loue: whom shamefac'tnesse became. 1693 Locke Educ. §135. 167 There is often in People, especially Children, a clownish shamefac'dness before Strangers. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 131 My poor grateful heart was like a too full river, which overflows its banks; and it carried away my fear and my shamefacedness. 1803 Wordsw. To Highland Girl 31 The embarrassed look of shy distress, And maidenly shame⁓facedness. 1888 Spurgeon Serm. in Voice (N.Y.) 31 May, A woman of few words and much shamefacedness. |
2. The state of being ashamed, ashamedness.
| 1641 J. Trappe Theol. Theol. x. 365 Shee [sc. the soule] stands off in a sinful shamefac'dnesse. 1653 A. Wilson Jas. I, 20 A certain Shamefacedness to be thought curious or changeable. 1894 S. Weyman Man in Black i. 8 The boy..stood looking round him with a dark shamefacedness. |
¶ 3. Misused for: Shamelessness. Cf. shamefastness 3.
| 1827 Longf. Life (1891) I. vii. 101 The French ministry is..with the most bold shamefacedness endeavoring to retrench their liberty of thought. |