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to destroy the self-confidence, poise, or self-possession of; disconcert; make ashamed or embarr-ssed:
to abash someone by sneering.
historical examples

he will tell you with pride rather than with abashment that he is an empleado—a state dependent.
the philippine islands john foreman

crimsoning, alrek fell from his hill of scorn to the valley of abashment.
the vinland champions ottilie a. liljencrantz

it was the preacher, who with many excuses stepped in and with some abashment tried to grind out what he had to say.
on the seaboard august strindberg

the big fellow, his head hung in abashment, looked up pleadingly.
the song of the wolf frank mayer

and much to my abashment he and the old man fell upon my neck and kissed me on both cheeks.
oriental encounters marmaduke pickthall

the hot blood mounted to the boy’s cheek, whether in abashment or in anger would be impossible to say.
the triumph of john kars ridgwell cullum

mr. garland accepted the introduction with signs of abashment, but stated his business simply.
v. v.’s eyes henry sydnor harrison

if abashed at heart, at least the world should be uninformed of that abashment.
the pace that kills edgar saltus

as soon as ned and i could recover from our abashment, we also said good morning.
phaeton rogers rossiter johnson

he dropped the hand that had been lightly resting on her arm, and his dapper air of self-confidence wilted in abashment.
kilo ellis parker butler

verb
(transitive; usually p-ssive) to cause to feel ill at ease, embarr-ssed, or confused; make ashamed
v.

“perplex, embarr-ss,” 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.