A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1558-1654
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S(c)ham(e)fastnes(s, n. [ME and e.m.E. shamfestnesse (c1200), schamefastnesse (Wyclif); S(c)ham(e)fast(e adj.] Modesty, bashfulness; a decent restraint or propriety in behaviour. 1558 Knox IV 375.
A naturall shamfastnes oght to be in womankind a1585 Arbuthnot Maitland Quarto MS 123/128.
And haittis all schaimles gloriositie And me delyt in modest schamfastnes c1590 Fowler I 69/70.
My ladie … with a bould defence With honestie and shamefastnes did lett his high pretence c1590 Ib. 313/29.
Is it bycaus your schamefastnes Your courtesie restrains? 1600-1610 Melvill 29.
Bot my God gaiff me a piece of his fear and grait naturall shamfastness 1600-1610 Ib. 79.
Be a certean schamfastnes of a bashfull nature quhilk He pat in me 1605 Aberd. Eccl. Rec. 47.
The young wemen … dansing … with maskis on thair faces, thairby passing the bounds of modestie and schamefastnes c1614 Mure Dido & Æneas ii 66. 1633 Johnston Diary I 137.
By ane speatch, quherin schamfastnes wald schaim me 1654 Sc. Ant. V 179.
And if the shamefastnes and modestie of any cannot permitt thame to make so publick compeirance
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"Shamfastnes n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 6 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/schamefastness>
