a. Forms: 4 auster, 7 -eer, 4– austere; also 4 austerene, awsterne (hausterne), 4–6 austerne, 6 austrun, astern. [a. OF. austere (14th c. in Littré), ad. L. austērus, a. Gr. αὐστηρός making the tongue dry and rough, hence, harsh, severe, f. αὔειν to dry. The adscititious -n, common in 14–16th c., is perhaps due to contact of form and sense with stern adj.; cf. quot. 1388 in sense 3. The appearance of the senses in Eng. does not correspond to the logical development in Gr.]
1. Uniting astringency with sourness or bitterness; harsh in flavor, rough to the taste.
1541. R. Copland, Galyen’s Terap., 2 H j b. I cal austere … a lytell adstryngent.
1601. Holland, Pliny, Gloss., Austere, harsh or hard, as in fruits vnripe, and hard wines of hedge grapes.
1664. Evelyn, Pomona, Advt. (1729), 78. Austere Fruit … no better than a sort of full succulent Crabs.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 122. The bramble, black as jet, or sloes austere.
1854. Hooker, Himal. Jrnls., I. vi. 143. Both ripen austere and small fruits.
† 2. Of color: Dingy, somber. (So in L.) Obs.
1680. H. More, Apocal. Apoc., 227. A Chrysoprasus: a Gemm of an austere colour.
3. Harsh to the feelings generally; stern in manner or appearance; rigorous, judicially severe.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 54. Þei dred þe kyng folle sore, for he was fulle austere.
1382. Wyclif, Luke xix. 21. I dredde thee, for thou art an austerne [1388 a stern] man … I am an hausterne [1388 a stern] man.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., V. ix. 664. Persecutiowne, Ðat wes austere and fellowne.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. xii. 59. Wyth astern fyry ene.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 371. With drawin swordis and with austrun face.
1656. Bp. Hall, Breath. Devout Soul (1851), 192. O thou, who justly holdest thyself wronged with the style of an austere Master.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 248. They would be gentle, not austere.
b. Stern in warfare, grim.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 28. Werred on Athelstan with oste fulle austere. Ibid., 263. Þe folk … wer first auster and smerte.
1852. Miss Yonge, Cameos (1877), I. xxx. 250. Simon, Count de Montfort, an austere warrior.
† c. transf. Rugged, forbidding. Obs.
1686. Cotton, Montaigne (1877), I. 75. Difficulties … render it austere and inaccessible.
4. Severe in self-discipline or self-restraint, stringently moral, strict, abstinent.
c. 1375. Wyclif, Serm., i. Sel. Wks. 1869, I. 1. An ypocrite þat shewide him to the world boþe austerne and clene.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, IV. iii. 59. Which holy vndertaking with most austere sanctimonie, she accomplisht.
1772. Priestley, Nat. & Rev. Relig. (1782), I. 319. John … led a remarkably austere life.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 249. To these austere fanatics a holiday was an object of positive disgust.
5. Grave, sober, serious.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 272. Eve … With sweet austeer composure thus reply’d.
1858. Longf., M. Standish, 31. Men in the middle of life, austere and grave in deportment.
6. Severely simple in style, unadorned; without any luxury.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. (1632), 390. This austere repast they took in the Euening.
1795. Mason, Ch. Mus., i. 47. I demand no austere solemnity of strain; but I would reject all levity of air.
1852. Conybeare & H., St. Paul (1862), I. ix. 280. The austere comfort of an English jail.
B. as sb. An austere substance.
1760. Rutty, Phil. Trans., LI. 471. Galls and other austeres.
