shamefaced
[sheym-feyst]
- modest or bashful.
- showing shame: shamefaced apologies.
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Origin of shamefaced
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for shamefacedly
Historical Examples
He hesitated, then said shamefacedly, 'They don't want him to go.'
Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad
He hitched his horse to the hook, shamefacedly, and entered the gallery.
"Not good," said Alden, shamefacedly, digging at the soil with his heel.
Master of the VineyardMyrtle Reed
"I don't know what you'll think of me, boys," said he, shamefacedly.
Jim Spurling, FishermanAlbert Walter Tolman
"I didn't know I could lose my temper like that," replied the other shamefacedly.
Left Guard GilbertRalph Henry Barbour
shamefaced
- bashful or modest
- showing a sense of shame
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Word Origin
C16: alteration of earlier shamefast, from Old English sceamfaest; see shame, fast 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for shamefacedly
shamefaced
adj.
"modest, bashful," 1550s, folk etymology alteration of shamefast, from Old English scamfæst "bashful," literally "restrained by shame," or else "firm in modesty," from shame (n.) + -fæst, adjectival suffix (see fast (adj.)). Related: Shamefacedly; shamefacedness.
shamefaced, -fast. It is true that the second is the original form, that -faced is due to a mistake, & that the notion attached to the word is necessarily affected in some slight degree by the change. But those who, in the flush of this discovery, would revert to -fast in ordinary use are rightly rewarded with the name of pedants .... [Fowler]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper