chastity
(ˈtʃæstɪtɪ)
Forms: 3–5 chastete, 4–6 chastite, chastyte, 4–7 chastitie, 5 chastitee, chastiti, 6 chastytye, 6– chastity.
[ME. chastete, -etie, a. OF. (13th c.) chastete, ad. L. castitāt-em under influence of the adj. chaste. The later spelling shows further assimilation to Latin; see -ity.
This was the second adaptation of the L. word in OF.; at a much earlier date it had been taken in as *castetet, *castedet, which, under the regular operation of the phonetic laws, had passed through chastedet to chasteet, chasteé, and in ONF. to casteed, before it was anew adapted as chasteté.]
The quality or state of being chaste.
1. a. Purity from unlawful sexual intercourse; continence.
| c 1305 St. Edmund 83 in E.E.P. (1862) 73 He ne miȝte neuere fynde non of so gret chastete. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 234 Chastete, which selde where Cometh now a daies into place. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 70 Chastyte, castitas, pudicacia. 1474 Caxton Chesse 19 So she concluded that she wold kepe her chastete. 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) vii. vii, The first degree of chastity is pure virginity, and the second faithfull matrimony. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 23 [Una]..the flowre of faith and chastity. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iv. 18 Hee hath bought a paire of cast lips of Diana..the very yce of chastity is in them. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 75 And would instantly put her to death if he but suspected her chastity. 1798 Malthus Popul. (1806) II. iv. ii. 323 The law of chastity cannot be violated without producing evil. 1872 Morley Voltaire (1886) 149 Chastity was the supreme virtue in the eyes of the church. |
† b. fig. Obs.| 1570 T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 124 Whose chastity standeth in this, to be dedicated to God alone. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lxxiii. 27 Wee define the spirituall chastitie of our minde to be a stedfast abyding faith, in calling upon God, in soundnesse of hart, and in obedience to y⊇ word. 1762–9 Falconer Shipwr. i. 317 He felt the chastity of silent woe. |
2. Abstinence from all sexual intercourse; virginity, celibacy.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 6 Non ancre..ne schal makien professiun..bute þreo þinges, þet is, obedience, chastete, & studestaþeluestnesse. 138. Wyclif Wks. (1880) 40 Frere menours..lyuynge in obedience, wiþ-outen propre, & in chastitie. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. vi. 311 Oonli vndir counseil he [St. Paul] profrid chastite to alle men that myȝten it take. 1538 Starkey England iv. 128 The law wych byndyth prestys to chastyte. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iii. 21 Vpon whose Graue thou vow'dst pure chastitie. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 33 A nun, whom love seduced from her vow of chastity. |
† 3. Ceremonial purity. (for L.
castitas.)
Obs. rare.
| 1388 Wyclif 1 Macc. xiv. 36 Thei..defouliden alle thingis that weren in cumpas of hooli thingis, and ȝauen greet wounde to chastite. 1606 Holland Sueton. 39 To enter into this rowme unlesse it be of necessitie & with devout chastitie, men make it scrupulous & are affraide. |
4. Exclusion of meretricious ornament; purity of style, modesty, chasteness.
| 1760 Sterne Serm. Yorick III. 90 In our own church..there is the greatest chastity in the external parts of religion. a 1763 Shenstone Odes (1765) 218 The engaging chastity of dress. 1837 Hallam Hist. Lit. I. i. iii. §37 Chastity and elegance of style. |
5. Exclusion of excess or extravagance; moderation, restraint.
| 1712 Steele Spect. No. 480 ¶5 Indulge me, my Noble Master, in this Chastity of Renown. |
6. attrib., as
chastity clause;
chastity belt, a belt designed to prevent a woman from having sexual intercourse; also
fig.| [1922 Index-Catal. Libr. Surgeon General's Office, U.S. Army 3rd ser. III. 1003/2 ‘Chastity girdle’ improvised by suspicious husband.] 1931 E. J. Dingwall Girdle of Chastity ii. 10 The virgin girdles of antiquity have nothing in common with the chastity belts. Ibid. vi. 164 The imposition of chastity belts upon women in order to allay masculine jealousy. 1938 L. MacNeice I crossed Minch ii. xvi. 230 As medieval and even more effective than a chastity belt. 1960 Guardian 17 Dec. 4/6 A traffic plan which enclosed Oxford in, so to speak, a chastity belt. 1969 Sun 19 June 5/6 A Dorset firm who make chastity belts have been told that the belts..must carry purchase tax of 133/4 per cent. They are appealing..that the belts should pay no tax ‘like other safety equipment’. |