Also 6–7 chasma, 7 chasme. [ad. L. chasma, a. Gr. χάσμα yawning hollow. The Gr.-L. form chasma was used for some time unchanged.]
† 1. A yawning or gaping, as of the sea, or of the earth in an earthquake. Obs.
1596. Fitz-Geffrey, Sir F. Drake (1881), 31. Earth-gaping Chasma’s, that mishap aboades.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. ii. § 1. That gaping Chasma, and insatiable gulfe of the Soules appetite.
1652. French, Yorksh. Spa, ii. 31. Those chasmes, and gapings of the Sea?
1656. S. H., Gold. Law, 91. Earthquakes, Chasmaes, and Voragoes were at his command.
1655–60. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 331/1. Earthquakes, Chasma’s, and the like.
† 2. An alleged meteoric phenomenon, supposed to be a rending of the firmament or vault of heaven. [So in Latin.] Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 17. The firmament also is scene to chinke and open, and this they name Chasma.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, I. i. 1. Halo’s, Rainbows, Parelia, Paraselena, Chasms.
1741. Short, in Phil. Trans., XLI. 630. A list of all the Chasms or Burnings in the Heavens, recorded in our Annals.
3. A large and deep rent, cleft or fissure in the surface of the earth or other cosmical body. In later times extended to a fissure or gap, not referred to the earth as a whole, e.g., in a mountain, rock, glacier, between two precipices, etc.
a. 1636. Fitz-Geffray, Bless. Birthd. (1881), 147. Thus is th’ Abyssus fild, the Chasma clos’d.
1622–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., Introd. (1682), 23. The open chinks or Chasmaes of the Earth.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, III. § 1. 134. This Effort … in some Earthquakes … tears the Earth, making Cracks or Chasmes in it some Miles in length.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., s.v., The Water of this vast Abyss … doth communicate with that of the Ocean by means of certain Holes, Hiatus’s or Chasms, passing betwixt it and the Bottom of the Ocean.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, i. (1858), 196. Iceland … with its … horrid volcanic chasms.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 7. 48–9. An arch of snow … may span a chasm one hundred feet in depth.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 135. The Colorado River … flows … at the bottom of a profound chasm.
4. A deep gap or breach in any structure; a wide crack, cleft or fissure. Also fig.
1626. W. Sclater, Expos. 2 Thess. (1629), 26. Heauen it selfe, and the great Chasma betwixt it and vs.
1672. Wilkins, Nat. Relig., 107. So many chasmes or breaches must there be in the Divine Nature.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), III. 356. The amphitheatre of Verona … has no holes or chasms in the wall.
1759. trans. Duhamel’s Husb., I. v. (1762), 11. An infinite number of small chasms between them, into which the roots may glide.
1815. Scott, Guy M., iv. This part of the castle … exhibited a great chasm, through which Mannering could observe the sea.
5. fig. A break marking a divergence, or a wide and profound difference of character or position, a breach of relations, feelings, interests, etc.
1641. R. Brooke, Eng. Episc., 99. Where then is that Chasma, that great Gulf of difference?
1660. H. More, Myst. Godl., I. iv. 9. That great Chasma betwixt God and Matter will be as wide as before.
1845. Sarah Austin, trans. Ranke’s Hist. Ref., II. 203. The two hierarchies, the spiritual and the temporal … were now separated by a deep and wide chasm.
1866. Liddon, Bampton Lect., i. (1875), 25. If Christ be not truly Man, the chasm which parted earth and heaven has not been bridged over.
1875. Hamerton, Intell. Life, X. x. 389–90. A gulf … almost like the chasm of death.
6. fig. A break or void affecting the continuity of anything, as of a chain of facts, a narrative, period of time, etc.; an intervening blank, hiatus, break, interval.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 216. Authors with many Plurima Desunts, many Chasmes and vacancys.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., II. ii. 137. It is carried down from the beginning of Time … without any chasma or interval.
1704. Swift, T. Tub, Author’s Apol. In the author’s original Copy there were not so many Chasms as appear in the book.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 519, ¶ 7. The whole chasm of nature, from a plant to a man, is filled up with divers kinds of creatures.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), I. 189. The fables with which our own writers have replenished the chasms in our history.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr. (1858), 109. The chasm of Seven Centuries.
1869. J. Martineau, Ess., II. 54. There is an historical chasm manifest in their modes of thinking.
7. A vacant place affecting the completeness of anything; a void, blank, gap.
1759. trans. Duhamel’s Husb., II. (1762), 125. Some chasms occasioned by our not having kept the drill in a parallel direction.
1838. Macaulay, Lett., in Trevelyan, Life (1876), II. 2. The chasm Tom’s departure has made. Ibid. (1855), Hist. Eng., III. 580. Recruits were sent to fill the chasms which pestilence had made in the English ranks.
