definition of the word enchasten

En- (an intensifying prefix) + chasten (to chastise, subdue, or render chaste).^[1]

• (RP) IPA: /ɛnˈʧeɪstə̆n/

to enchasten (third-person singular simple present enchastens, present participle enchastening, simple past and past participle enchastened)

1. (rare, chiefly literary) Render chaste.
   • 1907: Harry Houdini Collection, The Arena, p134

     I am the Child that motherless must weep,

         To hallow and enchasten all the land;

     And I am motherhood that cannot sleep,

         Without the pressure of a tiny hand. […]

   • 2006: Henry Kirke White, The Poetical Works of Henry Kirk White: With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas, p77/83

     […] And shall it e’er be said, that a poor hind,

     Nursed in the lap of Ignorance, and bred

     In want an labour, glows with nobler zeal

     To laud his maker’s attributes, while he

     Whom starry Science in her cradle rock’d,

     And Castaly enchasten’d with his dews,

     Closes his eyes upon the holy word,

     And, blind to all but arrogance and pride,

     Dares to declare his infidelity,

     And openly contemn the Lord of Hosts? […]

• Notes:

1. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary (2007).

• This page was last modified on 17 September 2008, at 00:03.
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