Chastity, n.
Etymology: [F. chasteté, fr. L. castitas, fr. castus. See Chaste.]
1. The state of being chaste; purity of body; freedom from unlawful sexual intercourse. She . . . hath preserved her spotless chastity. T. Carew.
2. Moral purity. So dear to heaven is saintly chastity, That, when a soul is found sicerely so A thousand liveried angels lackey her. Milton.
3. The unmarried life; celibacy. [Obs.] Chaucer.
4. (Literature & Art)
1 more senses
Chasteness.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for chastity; he lists it under virtue.
Where he writes about it:
Honor rises far above thought of the motto that "honesty is the best policy." Purity is freedom from all admixture, especially of that which debases; it is chastity both of heart and life, but of the life because from the heart. — from virtue