a. [f. BASH v.1 + -FUL; cf. also ABASH sb., though -ful is occasionally added to vbs., as in mournful, assistful.]
† 1. Wanting in self-possession, daunted, dismayed. Obs.
1552. Huloet, Bashfull or amased, attonitus.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., II. VI. 15. Those Forces would … by their success give much courage to his bashful Army.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 39, ¶ 7. [Duelling was] as great an Impediment to Advancement in the Service, as being bashful in Time of Action.
2. Of persons: Shrinking from publicity, shame-faced, shy. Sometimes used in a good or neutral sense = Sensitively modest in demeanor; sometimes depreciatively = Excessively self-conscious, embarrassed and ill at ease in society, ‘sheepish.’
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John, xii. 12 (R.). These folke beyng very desirous to see Jesus … yet they were bashefull.
1570. Ascham, Scholem. (1863), 42. If a yong jentleman … be bashefull, and will soon blushe, they call him a babishe and ill brought up thyng.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, I. 3. His wife and children … were … well fauored and very bashful.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 21. Or press the bashful stranger to his food.
1781. Cowper, Convers., 347. I pity bashful men.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. xxiv. Like Summer rose, The bashful maiden’s cheek appeared.
3. Of things, actions, etc.: Characterizing or characterized by extreme sensitiveness or modesty.
1595. Spenser, Wks. (Grosart), IV. 122. His face with bashfull blood did flame.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. i. 81. Hence bashfull cunning, And prompt me plaine and holy innocence.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnotheo, Wks. 1721, III. 313. Naked they walk’d, but had no bashful sense.
1816. Southey, Poet’s Pilgr., Proem 10. With impulse shy of bashful tenderness, Soliciting again the wish’d caress.
† 4. Exciting a feeling of shame. Obs.
1559. Mirr. Mag., 59 (T.). A woman yet must blush when bashful is the case, Though truth bid tell the story as it fell.
