I durste not late hym knowe of the laste letter that ye wrot to me, be cause he was so sor dyspleasyd with me at that tyme.
There durste no wight hand upon him legge*, *lay That he ne swore anon he should abegge*.
Simkin, 'by my lyf, And Iohn also, how now, what do ye heer?
That Curtesie vnlooked for, made hym attende some better thynge, and assured hym of that whych before by any meanes hee durste not thyncke.
Durste thou to offer thy Mouth to kysse my Hand, by the mouth of another, to whome thou haddest before dedicated thy lying Lyppes in thine owne person?
At which wordes all the yong men maruelled and therefore durste not attempt to goe vnto her, but said one to another: "Surely this commaundement of the Duke hath some secrete misterie in it.
Away they gonne it for to bere, For they ne durste not answere By exposicioun ne glose 7145 To that that clerkis wole appose Ayens the cursednesse, y-wis, That in that boke writen is.
I durste no more say therto 1250 For pure fere, but stal away; And thus I lived ful many a day.
For be right siker, I durste noght For al this worlde telle hir my thoght, 1150 Ne I wolde have wratthed hir, trewly.
Upon a daye I bethoghte me what wo And sorwe that I suffred tho For hir, and yet she wiste hit noght, 1185 Ne telle hir durste I nat my thoght.
Bot I spak nevere yit be mowthe That unto Cheste mihte touche, And that I durste riht wel vouche Upon hirself as for witnesse; For I wot, of hir gentilesse That sche me wolde wel excuse, That I no suche thinges use.
And these cases ended in so greate an hazarde and desperatnes, that a Spanishe capitaine durste adventure to ravishe forcibly the wife of the greatest kinge and lorde of this ile.
Ther was a yonge lusty gentyll man vpon a tyme that was ryght amorous, and loued a certayne marchauntes wyfe oute of all measure, in so moch that he folowed her to the churche and other places, but he durste neuer speake.
Perhaps we ought to read: “Lenger durste [thay] no bikure abyde.
Here shotte, here cast was so harde, Thay durstenot nyȝhe the walle.
Agayne iijc men̄ I-tolde, That durste righte wel a-byde.
Tho fledde the Turkes alle for fe[rh], At last the Saracens Thay durste no longer lette take to flight.
Lenger durste thay no maistryes make, his father might Thai were so sore agaste.
And yet neither the one nor the other, durste discouer the least passion of a greate nomber which oppressed their besieged hartes, and which suffered not to liue in anye reste this faire couple of loyall louers.
And that durste I enterprise to be verified by yourselfe, if it were possible that nature for one quarter of one houre onelye had transported into some other that which with right great wonder she sheweth to be in you.
The law was set as it shuld; tofore the juge, as wel the poore durste shewe his greef as the riche, for al his money.
So þer brenden serges seuene, And an hundred serges ok: Þat durste hi sweren on a bok.
Thay poynte at hym with there fynger, thay runne, thay goo, thay come, thay bekke one to an other, as tho thay wold speake to thaym that stand by if thay durste haue be bold.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "durste" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
