ghastly

From a conflation of gastly, from Middle English gastly, from gasten (from Old English gǣstan (“to torment, frighten”)) + -ly, and ghostly (which was also spelt gastlich in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast +‎ -ly. Spelling with gh developed in the 16th century due to the conflation.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːs(t).li/
• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈɡas(t).li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡæs(t).li/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːstli (RP), -æstli (US, Northern England, Scotland)

ghastly (comparative ghastlier, superlative ghastliest)

1. Like a ghost in appearance; death-like; pale; pallid; dismal.
   • 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC:

     Each turned his face with a ghastly pang.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     His face was so ghastly that it could scarcely be recognized.

   • 1892, Joaquin Miller, Columbus:

     "My men grow mutinous day by day; / My men grow ghastly wan and weak." / The stout mate thought of home; a spray / Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169:

     They gathered soberly in the farthest recess of the ward and gossiped about him in malicious, offended undertones, rebelling against his presence as a ghastly imposition and resenting him malevolently for the nauseating truth of which he was bright reminder.

2. Horrifyingly shocking.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

3. Extremely bad.

   The play was simply ghastly.

• (sickly pale): See also Thesaurus:pallid
• (horrifyingly shocking): lurid, grisly, gruesome,

ghastly (comparative more ghastly or ghastlier, superlative most ghastly or ghastliest)

1. In a ghastly manner.

   Synonym: ghastlily

   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Adventure of My Uncle”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 30:

     Her face was ghastly pale, and perhaps rendered still more so by the blueish light of the fire.

   • 1854, [Emma Robinson], “The Shrine of St. Edward”, in Westminster Abbey; or, The Days of the Reformation. […], volume III, London: John Mortimer, […], →OCLC, page 234:

     She drained it at a single draught, while Sancgraal’s silent lips appeared to tremble with some mental utterance—perhaps, for who can fathom the depths of superstition, in her most cavernous hollows of atheistic doubt?—perhaps murmuring the absolutory formula of his church over her!—Almost immediately after she grew very ghastly pale, and staggered against the shrine.

   • 1874 March 28, “The Blenkarne Inheritance”, in The London Reader of Literature, Science, Art, and General Information, volume XXII, number 569, →OCLC, chapter V, page 513, column 1:

     The officer in charge gave a sudden warning cry and flung out his arms towards the captain, who, turning still ghastlier pale, called out: “Lower the other boats. Lower away, I say—both of them.”

   • 1921, William Dudley Pelley, The Fog: A Novel, page 196:

     Johnathan's lips moved ghastly before his voice would come. "So I'm crazy, am I? And if I choose to murder you, what would you do?"

   • 1998, Christopher Meredith, “Mawrth”, in Sidereal Time, Bridgend: Seren, →ISBN, page 88:

     We have had word from other quarters,” the Prince Bishop continued, nervously, awkwardly, over-explanatorily, his face ghastlier white even than was usual, “that Grand Master Albrecht is moving his war-engines and cannon here, to Frauenberg!”

   • 2011, Ella March Chase [pseudonym; Kim Osram Bush], Three Maids for a Crown: A Novel of the Grey Sisters, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 71:

     You are even ghastlier pale than you were at the wedding.