ghastful, gastful, a. Obs. or arch.
(ˈgɑːstfʊl, -æ-)
Forms: α. 4–8 gastful(l, 5–6 gasteful(l. β. 6–7 ghastfull, 6–9 ghastful.
[f. gast v.1 + -ful.]
1. Full of fear, timid, scared.
| 1388 Wyclif Deut. xx. 8 Who is a ferdful man and of gastful herte? 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.) 221 An hare and a sheppe bene ful gastefull. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. (1590) 51 b, Musidorus had gathered his spirites together and yet casting a gastfull countenaunce vpon him. 1603 Harsnet Pop. Impost. xxi. 137 The..fond Gastful opinions of all the other Dottrels arise out of one of these two rootes. 1708 Ozell tr. Boileau's Lutrin v. 103 The Prelate saw their Fall with ghastful Eyes. |
2. Dreadful, frightful, terrible.
| α 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxxvi. (1495) 830 He makyth a ruthefull noyse and gastfull whan one profryth to fyghte wyth a nother. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xiii. 224 Hou gastful is this place! 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 57 b, His loke is horryble and gastfull. 1566 Drant Horace's Sat. i. i. A v b, Those goodes That..brings of feare suche gastfull fluddes. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 170 Here will I dwell apart In gastfull groue. 1616 J. Lane Cont. Sqr.'s T. ix. 365 This gastfull dreame..soone awooke him. 1658 tr. Bergerac's Satyr. Char. xii. 43 After many gastfull contortions. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 4 Gastful..came to signify any thing that look'd frightful. |
| β a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 132 With a ghastful noise. 1606 J. Carpenter Soloman's Solace xxv. 101 They were..subdued vnto ghastfull death. 1702 Dennis Monument xxix. 24 The joining Squadrons..make one ghastful Charnel of the Field. 1891 H. C. Halliday Someone must suffer III. xi. 196 Goblin shapes..grinning and gibbering in ghastful fashion. |
3. = ghastly a. 3.
| 1720 Gay Dione ii. i, What pious care my ghastful lid shall close? |
Hence
† ˈg(h)astfully adv.,
† ˈgastfulness.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth de P.R. vii. xliii. (1495) 256 The heere of the hede arysyth and stondeth vppe for some fere and gastfulnesse. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iv. i. 421 Scripture..seith ful gastfulli thus. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iv. (1629) 405 A solitarie darknesse..naturally..breeds a kind of irke⁓some gastfulnesse. 1664 Dryden Rival Ladies iv. iii, He looks so ghastfully, Would I were past him. 1713 Swift etc. Frenzy J. Dennis Wks. 1755 III. i. 138 He often stares ghastfully. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil (1822) 246 A ghastfully frightful fellow. |