a. Obs.–0 [f. Gr. χασματικ-ός, f. χάσματ- stem of χάσμα + -AL.] = CHASMAL; ‘pertaining to a chasm, which is the gaping or opening of the earth or firmament’ (Blount, Glossogr., 1656). Hence Chasmatically.
1721–61. in Bailey.
1775. in Ash.
1844. U. S. Mag., N.S. XIV. June, 587/2. We can imagine the beaux-esprits of the day, yawning chasmatically behind a fold of their robes, and crying out, from time to time, Pulchre! Bene! as we shout Divine! and Bravo!
1881. Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, 14 Feb., 2/4 (article heading), Freshet in Watkins Glen. Grandly the Waters Rushed Down the Chasmatical Gorge.
1914. J. A. Demuth, in Single Tax Review, XIV. 32. There is a chasmatical difference between confiscating land, and confiscating the increase in the value of land.
1921. Eleanor Hallowell Abbott, in Ladies’ Home Jrnl., XXXVIII. March, 124/3. As the casual insolence slipped from his lips it seemed to him suddenly that the whole world had opened chasmatically at his feet.
