cover-shame en · NOUN
Etymology
* cover + shame
Meanings
-
(obsolete, uncountable) Something used to conceal infamy.
If this were believed, men would make more account of sincerity, which will only give us boldness, and not seek for cover-shames; the confidence whereof, as it maketh men now more presumptuous, so it will expose them hereafter to the greater shame.
1838, Richard Sibbes, chapter 25, in The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax, page 122:O impudence! O rogue! O villain! Nay, if he be such a man, my righteous spirit rises at him! Does he put on holy garments, for a cover-shame of lewdness?
1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Friar, act 3, scene 2; republished in The Works of John Dryden, volume 6, Edinburgh: Archibold Constable and Co., 1821, page 428:Give place then exprobrating fruit, and come / Thou Cover-shame, old Fig-tree, in the Room: / Though men of all the fruit, that hangs o'th' tree, / Should love none less for your obscurity
1659, Edmund Gayton, chapter 31, in The Art of Longevity:
- (uncountable) A plant, savin (Juniperus sabina), which was historically used as both a contraceptive and to induce abortions.