shameful, a.
(ˈʃeɪmfʊl)
Forms: see shame n. Also 5 shem(e)ful.
[f. shame n. + -ful.]
† 1. Modest, shamefaced. Obs.
| a 950 Durh. Ritual (Surtees) 108 Sceomfull [glosses L. pudica]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 90 Ich am woware scheomeful. a 1300 Cursor M. 3367 And þof sco scamful was, i-wiss, Sco tint na contenance wit þis. c 1425 St. Eliz. of Spalbeck in Anglia VIII. 109/46 A merueilous onest and schameful gladnesse of cheer, caused of goostly ioye. a 1625 Fletcher Q. Corinth iv. i, For certain Sir, his bashfulness undo's him, For from his Cradle h'had a shameful face. |
† b. transf. (See quot.)
| 1659 R. Lovell Herbal 542 Shamefull-shrub, Pinahuihuiztlis, Herba verecunda. |
† 2. Permeated with a feeling or appearance of shame, full of shame, ashamed. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce viii. 359 So schamfull that he vencust wes, That..He gaf vp thar his vardanry. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 191 When he hard þis he wex ferd & shamefull. 1594 Kyd Cornelia i. 22 Vnder a Tyrant see our bastard harts Lye idely sighing, while our shamefull soules Endure a million of base controls. 1702 Mather Magn. Chr. iii. iv. vii. 231 With what shameful Reflections on all our past Behaviours. 1713 in Keble Life Bp. Wilson (1863) 215 She is one of the most penitent and shamefull offenders that hath been for many years. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 1 The house-tops began to be cleared with a shameful caution. |
3. That brings to shame; that causes or ought to cause shame; disgraceful, scandalous, degrading.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1157 (Kölbing) Sore he worþ adrad, ywis, Of schameful deþ to haue of þe. 1340 Ayenb. 117 Vor þet were a fole bezechinge and ssamuol. 1474 Caxton Chesse iv. i. (1883) 161 And shamefull pouerte is the more greuous whan hit cometh by nature of an hyhe and noble burth or hous. 1535 Coverdale Wisd. ii. 20 Let vs condemne him with the most shamefull death. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. ii. 179 Take vantage heauie eyes, not to behold This shamefull lodging. 1635 T. Cranley Amanda 41 And as thou shame⁓lesse of all shame dost live, So death to thee a shamefull end will give. 1781 Cowper Hope 715 The shameful close of all his mispent years. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab ii. 140 There once old Salem's haughty fane..in the blushing face of day Exposed its shameful glory. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. vii. vii, Shameful! Three against one! 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxvii. 41 Many a shameful time I heard her stealthy profession. |
† 4. shameful parts: the secret parts, organs of sex. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xxii. 10 Fadris vnhilliden in thee more shameful thingis. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 180 Their said breeches are so close, as they expose to view, not onely the noble but also the shamefull parts. 1693 Dryden Sat. Persius iv. 94 Not all thy Pincers, nor unmanly Arts, Can smooth the roughness of thy shameful parts. |
† 5. Applied to language: Casting shame, opprobrious, vituperative. Obs.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxii. 12 Judas..Tuke blissit Jesu..And schot him furth, with mony ane schow, With schamefull wourdis of dishonour. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 729 Reprouing and reuiling him with such yll wordes, and so shamefull termes, that all the hearers abhorred it. 1570 Levins Manip. 187/9 Shameful, contumeliosus. |
† 6. Shaming, affording shame to. Obs. rare—1.
| 1572 Lam. Lady Scot. 107 in Satir. P. Reform. (S.T.S.) I. 230, I grant I had ane Douchter was ane Quene,..Lusty, gude lyke, to all men fauourabill; Schamefull to euill, baith honest, meik and law. |