half-ashamed

You might think I'm apologetic half-ashamed looking for pity.

I A Dog 2010

He considered himself a “nerd who always hung around the library, half-ashamed to be seen carrying books home.”

Raymond Carver Carol Sklenicka 2009

We talk to one another in half-proud, half-ashamed code.

Dream State Diane Roberts 2008

At last, he has sent to Squire, the armorer, for a whetstone, and, half-ashamed of his own folly, whets and polishes it in bye-corners, muttering to himself.

Westward Ho! 2007

Without blaming her mother, she was half-ashamed of manoeuvres the object of which was, undoubtedly, some personal game.

A Marriage Contract 2007

Brute! said I, will you smother my Harriet I was half-ashamed of my tenderness Dcar-est, dear-est, dear-est Lady G. shaking his head, be-tween every dear and est, every muscle of his face working how you transport me!

Sir Charles Grandison 2006

I called her, with a voice so accented, that I was half-ashamed of myself, as it was before the women — but who could stand such sublime generosity of soul in so young a creature, her loveliness giving grace to all she said?

Clarissa Harlowe 2006

He took it out of his pocket, walked from me, and read it; and then came to me, and took my hand I am half-ashamed of myself, my dear

Sir Charles Grandison 2006

Kane stepped back, half-ashamed of this mummery and wondering what, if anything, would come of it.

The Moon of Skulls Howard, Robert E. 2005

She felt half-ashamed of what she was doing, almost acknowledging to herself that she should have borne with his sternness in return for the benefits he had done to her daughters.

The Small House at Allington 2004