Forms: 3–8 chast, 4 schast, 4–6 chest, 5 chaast(e, 6 cheste, chaist. 3– chaste. [a. OF. chaste (13th c. in Littré), semi-popular ad. L. cast-us, casta morally pure, chaste, holy.]
1. Pure from unlawful sexual intercourse; continent, virtuous. (Of persons, their lives, conduct, etc.)
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 164. Meidenhod … oðer, efter meidelure, chaste clennesse.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 191. Þat made, lo! þe wymmen þe chastore lyf lede.
1340. Ayenb., 202. He ne is naȝt chast.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 209. And chast [v.r. chaast] was man in Paradis certeyn.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, 188. Sayntes ioye of mary the cheste.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 10. All thame quhilk leivis ane chast lyfe.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 55. None more Chast and true to their Husbands.
1742. Collins, Ode Simplicity, 12. O chaste unboastful Nymph! to thee I call.
1869. Lecky, Europ. Mor., I. i. 153. Had the Irish peasants been less chaste, they would have been more prosperous.
b. transf. Pertaining to sexual purity.
1565–73. Cooper, Thesaurus, Abstinentes oculi, Chast and honest eyes.
1832. W. Irving, Alhambra, II. 144. The chaste and cautious maxims in which she had, as it were, steeped her.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, VII. 278. Then reign the world’s great bridals, chaste and calm.
† 2. Celibate, single. Obs.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 61. Ac ȝef eny ys ine the cas, Red ich that he be chaste.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., V. ii. 492. Bidden … britheren being in the religiouns forto lyue chaast for euer.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 709. All wedding he forsuik, And euirmoir … He levit chest.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. i. 223. She hath sworne, that she will still liue chast. Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., I. ii. 116. If I liue to be as olde as Sibilla, I will dye as chaste as Diana.
† b. Used to render eunūchus. Obs. rare.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xix. 12. Ther are chaste, which were so borne … And ther are chaste, which be made of men. And ther be chaste, which have made them selves chaste for the kyngdome of hevens sake.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 167. The word Chast, signifieth, Gelded.
† 3. Morally pure, free from guilt, innocent. Obs.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter cxxvii[i]. 1. Þe dred þat a man has to wreth god … is chaste drede.
c. 1450. Why can’t be nun, 82, in E. E. P. (1862), 140. That I may lyue chaste for the corupcion of synnyng.
1535. Coverdale, Wisd. of Sol. iv. 1. O how fayre is a chaist generacion with vertue?
4. fig. Undefiled, stainless, pure.
1604. Shaks., Oth., V. ii. 2. Let me not name it to you, you chaste Starres, It is the Cause.
1704. Pope, Windsor For., 209. In her chaste current oft the goddess laves.
1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. viii. (1866), 142. The chaste clear stars.
5. Decent; free from indecency or offensiveness.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. VI. iv. (1676), 191/1. Use honest and chast sports.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., III. (1702), I. 160. All seem’d Chast within those Walls.
1724. Watts, Logic, 56. Among words which signify the same principal ideas, some are clean and decent, others unclean; some chaste, others obscene.
1759. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, I. ix. The Hero’s horse was a horse of chaste deportment.
† 6. Restrained, subdued, chastened. Obs.
a. 1400. Octouian, 603. The lyoun com … And be the chyld sche ley thon chaste As sche were tame.
7. fig. Chastened, modest, restrained from all excess: † a. of processes of thought. Obs.
1774. Reid, Aristotle’s Log., vi. § 2. A fair and chaste interpretation of nature. Ibid. (1785), Int. Powers, 248. Discovered by patient observation, and chaste induction.
b. of tastes, qualities, etc.
a. 1797. Burke, in H. Rogers, Introd. Burke’s Wks., 71. Raising them to the level of true dignity, or of chaste self-estimation.
1825. Lytton, Falkland, 26. Her tastes, were, however, too feminine and chaste ever to render her eccentric.
8. Pure in artistic or literary style; without meretricious ornament; chastened, subdued.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, xiv. 196. They purposely deadened their colours, and kept them what they affectedly called ‘chaste.’
1756. J. Warton, Ess. Pope (1782), I. v. 272. How Addison could fall into the false and unnatural custom of ending his three first acts with similies, is amazing in so chaste and correct a writer.
1815. Scribbleomania, 197. A specimen of chaste biographical composition.
1823. Rutter, Fonthill, 45. Its chaste proportions and tasteful arrangement in detail.
1872. Yeats, Growth Comm., 51. Chaste jewellery, of the rarest value, adorned the women.
1873. Goulburn, Pers. Relig., II. x. 136. We prize our prayer book … for its chaste fervour.
9. Chaste tree, also † chaste lamb [mistranslation of L. agnus castus, the name of the tree being mistaken for agnus lamb]: the tree AGNUS CASTUS, a species of Vitex.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 165 b. Chast tre. Ibid., 166 a. It is called agnos that is chaste because weomen kepinge chastite in the sacrifices of Ceres vsed to straw this bushe vpon the ground.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 39. Chastlambe or Agnus castus.
1671. Salmon, Syn. Med., III. xxii. 389. Agnus Castus Ἄγνος Chast Tree. The seed … restrains lust.
1718. Quincy, Compl. Disp., 207. Chaste Lamb. This has got a Name for a Cooler.
1866. Treas. Bot., 264.
10. Comb., as chaste-eyed, -glowing, reserved, etc., adjs.
1631. Chapman, Cæsar & Pompey, Wks. 1873, III. 189. The gods wills secret are, nor must we measure Their chaste-reserued deepes by our dry shallowes.
1747. Collins, Passions, ix. The oak-crown’d Sisters, and their chaste-ey’d Queen.
1847. Emerson, Poems (1857), 92. Chaste-glowing, underneath their lids, With fire that draws while it repels.
