abashing, vbl. n.
(əˈbæʃɪŋ)
Also 4 abasshyng; and in Northern writers, 5– abaysing, abaisyng, abasing; not to be confounded with abasing.
[f. abash v. + -ing1.]
The act of confounding, or putting to dismay; the state of confusion, dismay, or astonishment; abashment. Now mostly gerundial.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. 1 Certes, quoth she, that were a great maruayle, and an abashinge without end. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 573 Thre sper-lynth, I trow weill mycht be Betuix thame, quhen sic abasing Tuk thame. 1404 H. Sharisbrook, in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 10. I. 30 A gret abayschynge to oure enmyes. c 1425 Wyntown Cron. viii. xxxvii. 77 Ðai suld noucht have had abaysyng. Ibid. ix. i. 66 Rycht airly in til þe dawing He stoutly come but abaisyng And til the Castelle set a stale, And syne gert bryn wp þe Town hale. a 1564 Becon Demands of Script. in Prayers, etc. (1844) 604 The amazing, dread, and abashing of the mind that the wicked men have of the wrath of God. 1580 Hollyband Treas. French Tong., Effray, or effroy, feare, astonying, abashing, amasing. |