Hypertext Webster Gateway: "shamefaced"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Shamefaced \Shame"faced`\, a. [For shamefast; AS. scamf[ae]st.
See {Shame}, n., and {Fast} firm.]
Easily confused or put out of countenance; diffident;
bashful; modest.
Your shamefaced virtue shunned the people's prise.
--Dryden.
Note: Shamefaced was once shamefast, shamefacedness was
shamefastness, like steadfast and steadfastness; but
the ordinary manifestations of shame being by the face,
have brought it to its present orthography. --Trench.
-- {Shame"faced}, adv. -- {Shame"faced`ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
shamefaced
adj 1: extremely modest or shy; "cheerfully bearing reproaches but
shamefaced at praise"- H.O.Taylor
2: showing a sense of shame [syn: {sheepish}]
3: showing a sense of guilt; "a guilty look"; "the hangdog and
shamefaced air of the retreating enemy"- Eric Linklater
[syn: {guilty}, {hangdog}, {shamed}]
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