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to destroy the self-confidence, poise, or self-possession of; disconcert; make ashamed or embarrassed:
to abash someone by sneering.
Historical Examples

Her reticence in that respect, however, did not in the least abash Jesse.
The Eddy Clarence L. Cullen

It would have been useless; nothing could alter or abash her inherent unmorality.
Olive in Italy Moray Dalton

I warn him, in a tone which ought to abash him, but doesn’t in the least.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, August 30, 1890. Various

“She striveth alway to abash (frighten) and trouble me,” sighed Maude.
The White Rose of Langley Emily Sarah Holt

And yet, what other course had I to take with a man whom no denial, no scorn could abash?
Amelia Henry Fielding

Divers flocks of clouds, camp-followers of the storm, could not abash her.
Parables Of A Province Gilbert Parker

“Nothing in the world can abash me now,” I thought as I wandered carelessly about the salon.
Childhood Leo Tolstoy

Nor did her presence in the least abash the boys, for they saw no impropriety in the act.
South and South Central Africa H. Frances Davidson

It is impossible to outface Milton, or to abash him with praise.
Milton Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh

As I said before, those gentlemen-rascals are hard to abash.
Francezka Molly Elliot Seawell

verb
(transitive; usually passive) to cause to feel ill at ease, embarrassed, or confused; make ashamed
v.

“perplex, embarrass,” early 15c., earlier “lose one’s composure, be upset” (late 14c.), from Old French esbaiss-, present stem of esbaer “gape with astonishment,” from es “out” (see ex-) + ba(y)er “to be open, gape,” from Latin *batare “to yawn, gape,” from root *bat, possibly imitative of yawning. Related: Abashed; abashing. Bashful is a 16c. derivative.