▪ I. ghastly, † gastly, a.
(ˈgɑːstlɪ, -æ-)
Forms: α. 4–5 gast(e)lich(e, -lych, 4–7 gastlie, 4–8 gastly; β. 6– ghastly.
[f. gast v.1 + -lich, -ly1.]
1. a. † In early use: Causing terror, terrible (obs.). In mod. use (cf. 2): Suggestive of the kind of horror evoked by the sight of death or carnage; horrible, frightful, shocking.
| α c 1305 St. Christopher 147 in E.E.P. (1862) 63 He was so gastliche & so moche þat hi þerste vneþe him iseo. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1494 A gastlich best he was to mete. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 250 He [Phœbus]..With gastly vois, that all it herde, The Romains in this wise answerde. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. cxxiv. (1869) 124 Oothere tweyne..as gastlich as she, or more. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurell 1316 By Hecates bowre..In Plutos gastlye towre. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 78 On the typ of rockish turret stood gastlye Celæno Vnlucky prophetesse. 1681 Cotton Wond. Peak 31 Having with terror, here beheld..The gastly aspect of this dang rous place. |
| β 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 29 As one with vew of ghastly feends affright. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. i. iii. 8 Every stitch causeth [a scar]..which after healing sheweth ghastly. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 I. 15 He standeth exposed to..horrid and ghastly dangers. 1704 Swift T. Tub viii. (1709) 100 Certain ghastly notions which have served them pretty tolerably for a devil. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms ii. 403 The ghastly dreams, That haunt the parting soul. 1855 Prescott Philip II, I. iii. v. 370 His bloody head was set up opposite to that of his fellow-sufferer. For three hours these ghastly trophies remained exposed. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 80 The ghastly frequency of the punishment by death tended to make people savage. |
b. colloq. Said hyperbolically of persons or things objectionable on various grounds: Shocking, ‘frightful’.
| 1861 Thackeray Four Georges ii. (1862) 88 There never was such a ghastly farce. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. i, This pretence, much favoured by the lady-visitors, led to the ghastliest absurdities. 1890 Saintsbury in New Rev. Feb. 138 A most ghastly act of high treason is being committed. 1896 Daily News 21 July 3 To take measures to prevent the session being a ghastly failure. 1931 F. D. Grierson Mystery in Red iv. 70 Don't be a ghastly idiot. 1960 N. Mitford Don't tell Alfred vii. 76 Then he'd never have heard of this ghastly Yanky. Ibid. 81, I bought her [sc. a tortoise] from those ghastly children. 1969 C. Fremlin Possession i. 9, I know his mother, and she's frightful! She really is, Clare, I promise you: she's ghastly! |
2. a. (Influenced by ghost: cf. quot. 1711.) Like a spectre, or a dead body; death-like, pale, wan. Of light: Lurid.
| 1581 A. G. XII. Patr. 14 b, Euen in sleepe some spice of imagined malice gnaweth hym..makyng his body gastly, and his mynde afrighted with trouble. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 331 And striving with the pangs of death halfe a day, he then breathed out his gastly ghost. 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. II. 83 That his watchings and abstinence had dried up his blood and made him looke gastly. 1700 Dryden Cock & Fox 231 His Friend..with a ghastly Look and doleful Cry Said help me Brother, or this Night I die. 1711 J. Greenwood Eng. Gram. 276 Gastly..like a Ghost, or like a dead Corps; for a gastly Look is chiefly said of the Countenance of a dying Person. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 303 ¶15 That ghastly Light, by which the Fiends appear to one another in their Place of Torments. 1718 Prior Power 334 Ghastly with wounds, and lifeless on the bier. 1844 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 280 Touched by compassion for my ghastly appearance. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. iii. 30 A ghastly gleam rested upon the summit of the Ortler. |
b. of a smile, a grin.
| 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 325 She tolde him, that there was lately buried (neare to the place where she was honoured) a sinfull person, which so offended her eie with his ghastly grinning, that [etc.]. 1832 Lytton Eugene Aram. i. vi. 32 ‘What eavesdropping’, said he, with a ghastly smile. 1837 ― E. Maltravers 31 With a ghastly grin. |
c. said of immaterial things.
| 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. i. 244 Unlike the voice With which our pallid race hold ghastly talk. 1860 Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1879) I. xxv. 251 A ghastly emotion rose up out of the depths of the young count's heart. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Own Times II. xxv. 257 A ghastly semblance of faith in the possibility of a peaceful arrangement. 1884 Punch 18 Oct. 190/1 The grim refrain to their ghastly minstrelsy. |
† 3. Full of fear, inspired by fear. Obs.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. i. 62 The Dame, halfe dedd Through suddein feare and ghastly drerihedd. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 32 Gastly amazement, with upstarted haire, Shall hurry on before, and usher us. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 309 Why are you drawn? Wherefore this ghastly looking? 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 207 In great hast and feare with gastly amazed lookes. |
▪ II. ghastly, † gastly, adv.
(ˈgɑːstlɪ, -æ-)
[f. the adj.]
1. Qualifying a vb.: a. Frightfully, horribly; with a deathlike look. b. In a frightened manner, timidly.
| a. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 170 His eye-balles..Staring full gastly, like a strangled man. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab vii. 192 My murdered children's mute and eyeless sculls Glared ghastly upon me. 1837 Marryat Dog-fiend xxx, Vanslyperken grinned ghastly. |
| b. 1589 R. Robinson Gold. Mirr. (Chetham Soc.) 4 And at the gase I gastly quaking stood. 1599 Warn. Faire Wom. ii. 706 Why stop you on the sudden? why go you not? What makes you looke so gastly towards the house? a 1628 F. Greville Sidney (1652) 145 He saw a poor Souldier carryed along..gastly casting up his eyes at the bottle. 1681 H. More Expos. Dan. 92 None understood what the matter was with me, that I lookt so sadly and ghastly on it. |
2. Qualifying an adj. ghastly pale: deathly pale. ghastly sick: † sick unto death; also, frightfully sick.
| 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. x. (1712) 118 His Nose was entire and full, not sharp, as in those that are gastly sick, or quite dead. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 28 Her face was ghastly pale, and perhaps rendered more so by the bluish light of the fire. 1862 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 127, I am less ghastly sick. |