abashless

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English

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Etymology

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From abash +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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abashless (comparative more abashless, superlative most abashless)

  1. (literary) Not disconcerted or embarrassed; not concealed; not eliciting shame. [Mid 19th century.][1]
    Synonyms: unabashed, barefaced, brazen, shameless, unblushing, unshrinking
    • 1868, Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book[1], London: Smith, Elder, Volume 1, Part 2, lines 1010-1011, p. 127:
      Nor wanted words as ready and as big
      As the part he played, the bold abashless one.
    • 1895, Francis Thompson, Sister Songs[2], London: John Lane, Part the First, p. 19:
      I had endured through watches of the dark
      The abashless inquisition of each star,
    • a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “(please specify the chapter or poem)”, in M[abel] L[oomis] Todd, editors, Poems, Third Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1896, page 160:
      Where every bird is bold to go / And bees abashless play, / The foreigner before he knocks / Must thrust the tears away.
    • 1936, William Faulkner, chapter 4, in Absalom, Absalom![3], New York: Modern Library, page 114:
      a place created for and by voluptuousness, the abashless and unabashed senses

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abashless”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 2.