ghastful

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English gastful, equivalent to ghast +‎ -ful. See ghastly.

Adjective

ghastful (comparative more ghastful, superlative most ghastful)

  1. (archaic) Causing fear; terrifying; dreadful; fit to make one aghast; exceedingly dismal.
    • 1922, E. R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros:
      Very desolate was that valley, having a dark aspect and a ghastful, such as a man might look for in the infernal glens of Pyriphlegethon or Acheron.
  2. (archaic) Terrified, frightened.
    • 1716, Samuel Wesley, The history of the Old and New Testament attempted in verse, p. 13 (Google preview):
      Th' Almighty anſwers — "I my ſelf will place
      "The dreadful Stains of Murther on the Face,
      "That all may ſhun thy Crimes and Fate. — He ſaid,
      The Caitiff heard, with ghaſtful Looks he fled.

Derived terms

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for ghastful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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