a. Obs. [Cf. next.] Balefully stricken or blighted; thunderstruck, dumbfounded.
a. 1652. Brome, Queenes Exch., V. i. What art thow that canst look thus Piepickt, Crowtrod, or Sparrow-blasted? ha!
1682. Bunyan, Holy War (1905), 337. Will you never shake off your timorousness? are you afraid of being sparrow-blasted? who hath hurt you?
1823. Galt, Entail, lxxiii. ‘Eh! Megsty me! I’m sparrow-blasted!’ exclaimed the Leddy,… lifting both her hands and eyes in wonderment.
