abash

Meaning

Verb

• To make ashamed; to embarrass; to destroy the self-possession of, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to disconcert; to discomfit.
• To lose self-possession; to become ashamed.

Origin

• First attested in 1303. From Middle English abaisen, abaishen, abashen etc., from Anglo-Norman abaiss, from Middle French abair, abaisser, from Old French esbair, (French ébahir), from es- + bair, from Medieval Latin *exbadō, from ex- + bado, an onomatopoeic word imitating a yawn, see also French badaud.