▪ I. chaste, a.
(tʃeɪst)
Forms: 3–8 chast, 4 schast, 4–6 chest, 5 chaast(e, 6 cheste, chaist. 3– chaste.
[a. OF. chaste (13th c. in Littré), semi-popular ad. L. cast-us, casta morally pure, chaste, holy.]
1. Pure from unlawful sexual intercourse; continent, virtuous. (Of persons, their lives, conduct, etc.)
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 164 Meidenhod..oðer, efter meidelure, chaste clennesse. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 191 Þat made, lo! þe wymmen þe chastore lyf lede. 1340 Ayenb. 202 He ne is naȝt chast. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 209 And chast [v.r. chaast] was man in Paradis certeyn. 1450–1530 Myrr. Our Ladye 188 Sayntes ioye of mary the cheste. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 10 All thame quhilk leivis ane chast lyfe. 1673 Ray Journ. Low-C. 55 None more Chast and true to their Husbands. 1742 Collins Ode Simplicity 12 O chaste unboastful Nymph! to thee I call. 1869 Lecky Europ. Mor. I. i. 153 Had the Irish peasants been less chaste, they would have been more prosperous. |
b. transf. Pertaining to sexual purity.
| 1565–73 Cooper Thesaur., Abstinentes oculi, Chast and honest eyes. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 144 The chaste and cautious maxims in which she had, as it were, steeped her. 1847 Tennyson Princ. vii. 278 Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm. |
† 2. Celibate, single. Obs.
| c 1315 Shoreham 61 Ac ȝef eny ys ine the cas, Red ich that he be chaste. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. ii. 492 Bidden..britheren being in the religiouns forto lyue chaast for euer. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 709 All wedding he forsuik, And euirmoir..He levit chest. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. i. 223 She hath sworne, that she will still liue chast. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 116. |
† b. Used to render eunūchus. Obs. rare.
| 1526 Tindale Matt. xix. 12 Ther are chaste, which were so borne..And ther are chaste, which be made of men. And ther be chaste, which have made them selves chaste for the kyngdome of hevens sake. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 167 The word Chast, signifieth, Gelded. |
† 3. Morally pure, free from guilt, innocent. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxxvii[i]. 1 Þe dred þat a man has to wreth god..is chaste drede. c 1450 Why can't be nun 82 in E.E.P. (1862) 140 That I may lyue chaste For the corupcion of synnyng. 1535 Coverdale Wisd. of Sol. iv. 1 O how fayre is a chaist generacion with vertue? |
4. fig. Undefiled, stainless pure.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 2 Let me not name it to you, you chaste Starres. 1704 Pope Windsor For. 209 In her chaste current oft the goddess laves. 1849 Robertson Serm. Ser. i. viii. (1866) 142 The chaste clear stars. |
5. Decent; free from indecency or offensiveness.
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. vi. iv. (1676) 191/1 Use honest and chast sports. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. iii. (1702) I. 160 All seem'd Chast within those Walls. 1724 Watts Logic 56 Among words which signify the same principal ideas, some are clean and decent, others unclean; some chaste, others obscene. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy i. ix, The Hero's horse was a horse of chaste deportment. |
† 6. Restrained, subdued, chastened. Obs.
| a 1400 Octouian 603 The lyoun com..And be the chyld sche ley thon chaste As sche were tame. |
7. fig. Chastened, modest, restrained from all excess: † a. of processes of thought. Obs.
| 1774 Reid Aristotle's Log. vi. §2 A fair and chaste interpretation of nature. 1785 ― Int. Powers 248 Discovered by patient observation, and chaste induction. |
b. of tastes, qualities, etc.
| a 1797 Burke in H. Rogers Introd. Burke's Wks. 71 Raising them to the level of true dignity, or of chaste self-estimation. 1825 Lytton Falkland 26 Her tastes, were, however, too feminine and chaste ever to render her eccentric. |
8. Pure in artistic or literary style; without meretricious ornament; chastened, subdued.
| 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty xiv. 196 They purposely deadened their colours, and kept them what they affectedly called ‘chaste’. 1756 J. Warton Ess. Pope (1782) I. v. 272 So chaste and correct a writer. 1815 Scribbleomania 197 A specimen of chaste biographical composition. 1823 Rutter Fonthill 45 Its chaste proportions and tasteful arrangement in detail. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 51 Chaste jewellery. 1873 Goulburn Pers. Relig. ii. x. 136 We prize our prayer book..for its chaste fervour. |
9. chaste tree, also † chaste lamb [mistranslation of L. agnus castus, the name of the tree being mistaken for agnus lamb]: the tree agnus castus, a species of Vitex.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 165 b, Chast tre. Ibid. 166 a, It is called agnos that is chaste because weomen kepinge chastite in the sacrifices of Ceres vsed to straw this bushe vpon the ground. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 39 Chastlambe or Agnus castus. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 389 Agnus Castus ἄγνος Chast Tree. The seed..restrains lust. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 207 Chaste Lamb. This has got a Name for a Cooler. 1866 Treas. Bot. 264. |
10. Comb., as chaste-eyed, chaste-glowing, chaste-reserved etc., adjs.
| 1631 Chapman Cæsar & P. Wks. 1873 III. 189 The gods wills secret are, nor must we measure Their chaste-reserued deepes by our dry shallowes. 1747 Collins Passions ix, The oak-crown'd Sisters, and their chaste-ey'd Queen. 1847 Emerson Poems (1857) 92 Chaste-glowing, underneath their lids, With fire that draws while it repels. |
▪ II. † chaste, v. Obs.
[The two ME. verbs chast-en and chasti-en (chasty) appear both to originate from OF. chastie-r:—L. castigāre to make chaste or pure, correct, chastise, f. cast-us chaste. The OF. vb. was adopted in 12th c. Eng. as chastien: in early southern Eng., where the OE. weak verbs in -iᵹan still retained -ien in the infinitive, as OE. lufiᵹan (3rd s. lufeð), ME. luvien (3rd s. luveth), later luvi, luvy, luv-en, luv-e, the -ien of chastien was apparently treated in the same way, giving chast-y, chast-en, chast-e. But in those dialects in which lufiᵹan was already reduced to luv-en, chasti- was recognized as the stem of chasti-en, and gave later chasty-e, chasty. Hence in 13th and early 14th c., chasti is the infinitive of chaste, or the stem of chasty, according to dialect.]
1. trans. To correct or amend by discipline; to discipline, train; to bring up under restraint.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 11 No prest. ne no bissop ne mai him chastien ne mid forbode. ne mid scrifte. a 1225 Ancr. R. 268 Þet tu ne schuldest nout tuhten, ne chasten þi meiden. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 2475 In þat forest fede Tristrem hodain gan chast. 1340 Ayenb. 220 Þeruore me ssel þe children chasti, and wel teche. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 317 A wikked wyf þat will nouȝt be chasted. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) ii. xlv, How he..chastith [1533 chastyseth] hem. 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. lxix. 11 Though I doe fast my flesh to chaste. c 1550 Friar & Boy 30 in Ritson Anc. Pop. P. 36 He is a cursed ladde, I wolde some other man hym had, That wolde hym better chaste. |
2. To reprove, rebuke.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 70 Nenne weopmen ne chasti ȝe. Ibid. 96 Ne chastie ȝe neuer nenne swuchne mon bute o þisse wise. |
3. To inflict corrective punishment on.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 184 Þench þet he is Godes ȝerd, & tet God bet þe mid him, & chasteð, ase ueder deð his leoue child. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 428 Sparye he wolde myld men, & chasty þe proute. c 1300 K. Alis. 6478 He chasted heom with sweord. 1480 Robt. Devyll 10 Toke a rodde for to chaste hym. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 40 Blaming and chasting with much crueltie. 1621 Bolton Stat. Irel. 22 (an. 33 Hen. VI) If any..which the said chieftayne may chaste, doe any trespasse or felony. |
4. To restrain, subdue, tranquillize.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 15 Hwil þi wit atstond & chaisteð þi wil. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 860 Harlote with his hendelayk he hoped to chast. c 1330 King of Tars in Engl. Studien XI. 111 Al þat day & alle þat niȝt Noman miȝt him schast. c 1350 Will. Palerne 729 Mi hauteyn hert bi-houes me to chast, & bere me debonureli. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. xiv. (1495) 39 [Angels] chaste euyll spyrytes that they doo not soo moche harme as they wolde. |
5. ? To keep chaste. rare.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 21 To herien hare drihtin & þonken him ȝeorne þat his mihte ham i cleanschipe chaste. |
▪ III. chaste
obs. form of chest.