| 释义 |
▪ I. un-, prefix1
expressing negation, representing OE. un-, = OFris. un-, on-, oen- (WFris. ûn-, on-, EFris. ûn-, NFris. ün-), MDu. (and Du.) on-, OS. (MLG., LG.), OHG. (MLG., G.), and Goth. un-, ON. ú-, ó- (Icel. ó-, Sw. o-, Norw. and Da. u-), corresponding to OIr. in-, an-, L. in- (im-, il-, ir-, i-), Gr. ἀν-, ἀ-, Arm. an-, Skr. an-, a-, Indo-Eur. *n̥, an ablaut-variant of ne not: see ne adv. The prefix has been very extensively employed in English, as in the other Germanic languages, and is now the one which can be used with the greatest freedom in new formations.
2. In OE. the number of recorded forms in un- is very large, the prefix being freely applied with a purely negative force to several parts of speech, which may be classified as follows: (a) simple adjectives, as unbeald, unblíðe, unbrád, unclǽne, uncúþ, undéop, etc., derivative adjs., as unbealoful, unblódiᵹ, ungyltiᵹ, unmeahtiᵹ, unclǽnlic, uncúðlic, uncynlic, etc., and composite forms, as uncampróf, undéopþancol, unfæstrǽd, etc.; (b) simple adverbs, as unéaðe, unefne, unfæᵹere, unfeorr, etc., and derivative forms, as unclǽnlíce, uncúðlíce, unéaðelíce, unfæstlíce, etc.; (c) past participles of strong and weak verbs, as unbeden, unbegunnen, unboren, undrifen, unᵹeboden, unᵹecnáwen, etc., unbyrᵹed, undǽled, unᵹedered, unclǽnsod, unᵹeendod, unᵹehálᵹod, unboht, etc.; (d) present participles, as unberende, unbirnende, uncwaciende, uncweðende, unfélende, etc.; (e) simple nouns, as unár, unbealu, uncyst, unfriþ, unlaᵹu, unþanc, etc., and derivative forms, as unclǽnness, unfæᵹerness, uncáfscipe, unwísdóm, etc. A prominent feature of the OE. examples is the prevalence of long derivative or compound formations, usually based upon, or corresponding to, Latin formations with in-, im-, il-, as unaberendlic intolerable, unaberendlíce intolerably, unbegrípendlic incomprehensible, unbescéawodlíce inconsiderately, unforhæfedness incontinence. The greater number of such forms were no doubt artificial, and had little or no currency in ordinary language. In a small number of nouns un- appears with a pejorative in place of a negative sense, as unǽt excessive eating, uncoðu an evil disease, uncræft an evil art, and similarly undǽd, undóm, unlaᵹu, unrǽd, unsíþ, untíma, unweder. Altogether the number of un- words recorded in OE. is about 1250, of which barely an eighth part survived beyond the OE. period.
3. The disappearance of so many of the OE. formations left early ME. with a very limited supply of un- words, even when new (or apparently new) examples are added to those inherited from the older language. A fair proportion even of this reduced stock proved unable to survive for more than half a century, and had passed out of use by 1250. A few of these, especially such as obviously had some general currency, are entered in their alphabetical places, but the greater number are given here (together with a few of somewhat later date) as properly belonging to the older period and having no direct influence upon the later development of the prefix. Most of these are composed of purely native elements, but a few show the beginnings of Scandinavian and French influence, as ungrith, unhaȝerliȝ, unskatheful; unbispused, uncoverlich.
In ME. transcripts of OE. homilies a few additional words are found, as unafillendlich, unasecgliche, uniredliche, unisewenlich, untodele(n)dlich, unȝearu.
unaˈgin a. [cf. agin v.], without beginning; unaˈnemned ppl. a. [OE. ánemnan to declare], unnamed, indescribable; unˈawned ppl. a. [f. awn v.2], unmanifested, undeclared; unaˈȝeten ppl. a. [f. anget v.], unperceived; unˈbaleful a. [OE. unbealoful], harmless; unˈbarmed ppl. a. [f. barm v.], unleavened; unbiˈburied ppl. a. [OE. unbebyriᵹed], unburied; unbiˈheve n. [cf. next] = unbihoof; unbiˈheve a. [OE. unbehéfe], disadvantageous, unprofitable; unbiˈhoof, -ˈhofthe [behoof, bihofthe], disadvantage, detriment; unbiˈse(h)iness [f. pa. pple. of besee v.], inattention, carelessness; unbiˈsorȝeliche adv. [OE. unbesorh not cared for], roughly; unbiˈspused ppl. a. [after OE. unbeweddod], unmarried; unbiˈwene a. [cf. OE. unwéne], unexpected; unˈboned ppl. a. [f. boon v.], unentreated; unˈbotelich a. [f. boot n.1], irremediable; unˈcoverlich a. [f. cover v.2 2], irrecoverable; unˈcunne [cf. OE. uncynn a.], improper conduct; unˈcunneliche v. [f. OE. cynn kin1], to denaturalize; unˈcunness [f. OE. cunnan to know], ignorance; unˈcuððe [OE. uncyððu], a strange land; unˈdeaðlich a. [OE. undéaþlic], immortal; unˈdeaðlichness [OE. undéaþlicnes], immortality; undeaþˈshildiȝness [f. OE. déaþscyldiᵹ], exemption from death; unˈderf, a. [f. derf a.], irresolute, weak; unˈdreint p.p. [f. drench v.], undrowned; unˈdrinkled p.p. [f. drenkle v.], = undreint; unˈendliche adv. [cf. ON. úendiliga], infinitely; unˈfaken a. [OE. unfácne], guileless, innocent; unˈfew a. [ON. úfár], many; unforˈgolden p.p. [OE. unforgolden], unrequited; unforˈgult ppl. a. [f. forguilt v.], not affected with guilt; unˈframe [cf. ON. úframi backwardness], disadvantage, loss; unˈfreme [OE. unfremu], = unframe; unˈfrith [OE. unfriþ, ON. úfriðr], dissension, strife; unˈfulhtned [f. fulhtne v.], unbaptized; unfullˈmaking [cf. fullmake v., and OE. unfulfremming], imperfection; unȝeˈrim a. [OE. unᵹerím n.], numberless; unˈghere adv. [OE. unᵹéara], soon, quickly; unˈgrete [cf. OE. grýto], want of size, smallness; unˈgrith [f. grith n.], insecurity, hurt; unˈhaȝherliȝ adv. [see hagher a., and cf. ON. úhagliga], unskilfully, awkwardly; unˈhersumness [OE. unhíersumnes], disobedience; unˈhuhtlic a. [f. OE. hyhtlic hightly a.], unpleasant; uniˈcunde a. [OE. unᵹecynde], not native, foreign; uniˈfeie a. [OE. unᵹeféᵹe], = next; uniˈfoh, -iˈvoh, a. [OE. unᵹefóᵹ], immense; adv. extremely; uniˈhoded ppl. a. [OE. unᵹehádod], not ordained; uniˈlimp [OE. unᵹelimþ], misfortune, mishap; uniˈloȝe p.p. [f. ME. iloᵹe, p.p. of lie v.2], without falsehood; uniˈmake [OE. unᵹemaca], a non-equal, a superior; uniˈmeað adv., = unmeðe (see below); uniˈqueme a. [OE. unᵹecwéme], unpleasant, inconvenient; uniˈriht [f. OE. ᵹeriht], injustice, wrong; uniˈrimed ppl. a. [OE. unᵹerímed], unnumbered; uniˈrude a. [OE. unᵹerýde], = unride a.; uniˈsaht ppl. a. [see saught v.], unreconciled; uniˈsele n. [cf. sele n.], unhappiness, misery; uniˈsele a. [f. isele a.], = next; uniˈseli a. [OE. unᵹesǽliᵹ: cf. iseli a.], unhappy, wretched; uniˈseliche adv. [OE. unᵹesǽllíce], unhappily, wretchedly; uniˈselth [OE. unᵹesǽlþ: cf. iselth], unhappiness, misfortune; uniˈsibbe [cf. OE. unsib and ᵹesib a.], dissension, strife; uniˈsome a. [OE. unᵹesóm: cf. isome a.], at variance; uniˈsunde [cf. isunde], unsoundness, injury; uniˈtharf [cf. tharf n.], evil, mischief; uniˈvele a., = unfele a.; uniˈweald [OE. unᵹeweald: cf. iwald n.], lack of control; uniˈwelde a. [OE. unᵹewielde], unwieldy; uniˈwidere [OE. unᵹewidere], bad weather; uniˈwill [cf. iwill], unwillingness; uniˈwine, = unwine (an enemy); uniˈwrast a., = unwrast a.; uniˈwrench, = unwrench n.; unˈlaȝeliche, -like adv. [f. lawly adv.], unlawfully; unˈlef a. [OE. unᵹeléaf], unbelieving; unˈleflich a. [OE. unᵹeléaflic], incredible; unˈlepped ppl. a. [f. lep lap v.], uncovered; unˈlif a., unleavened; unˈlimp, = unilimp; unˈliȝel a. [f. lie v.2], truthful; unˈlothness [cf. loathness 1], harmlessness, innocence; unˈlude [f. lude1], an unpleasant noise; unˈluved ppl. a. [OE. unlýfed, -líefed], unallowed, illicit; unˈmeaðeliche adv. [OE. unmǽðlíce], immoderately; unˈmeðe adv., = unmeaðeliche; unˈmeðlich a. [OE. unmǽðlic], immoderate, excessive; unˈmeðship [cf. prec.], impatience; unˈmiðe [f. mithe v.], open speech; unˈmundlunge adv. [OE. unmyndlinga], unexpectedly; unˈned, -ˈnet p.p. [OE. unᵹeníedd], unconstrained; unˈneod [f. need n.], disadvantage, loss; unˈneomelich a. [f. nim v.], untakable; unˈrecheleas a. [see 5 a], reckless, careless; unˈroless a. [see 5 a], restless; unˈseȝendlic a. [cf. OE. unásecgendlic], unspeakable; unˈseȝendlike adv. [cf. OE. unásecgendlice], unspeakably; unˈseȝenlic, -ˈsehelich a. [OE. unᵹeseᵹenlic], invisible; unˈseȝenlike adv. [cf. OE. unᵹesewenlíce], invisibly; unˈshathiȝ a. [OE. unsceaþþiᵹ], harmless, innocent; unˈshathiȝness [OE. unsceaþþiᵹnes], innocence; unˈshrivel a. [f. shrive v.], neglectful of confession; unˈsibbe, = unisibbe; unˈsithe [OE. unsíþ], mishap, misfortune; unˈskatheful a. [cf. OE. unsceaþful], harmless; unˈsmethe a. [OE. unsméðe], unsmooth; unˈstathelfest a. [OE. unstaðolfæst], unsteadfast; unˈstreoned p.p. [f. strene v.], unbegot; unˈtalelich a. [f. tale n.], indescribable; unˈtheode [f. thede], strangers; unˈtholelich a. [f. thole v.], unendurable; unˈthrowlich a. [cf. OE. unþrówiᵹendlic], incapable of suffering; unˈthuldeliche adv. [cf. OE. unþyldlicnes], with lack of endurance; unˈtiming [f. timing vbl. n. 1], mishap, ill fortune; untoˈbritned ppl. a. [f. to-britten v.], undivided; untoˈdeled ppl. a. [OE. untódǽled], = untobritned; untoˈdelinde ppl. a. [cf. prec.], indivisible; unˈtrowness [cf. OE. untréow, -tréowþ], unfaithfulness, breach of trust; unˈtuderi a. [cf. OE. untydrende], barren; unˈtuhtle [see tuhtle], a bad habit or custom; unˈtwemed ppl. a. [f. tweme v.], undivided; unˈvonded ppl. a. [cf. OE. unᵹefandod], untried; unˈwaker a. [f. waker a.], unwatchful; unˈwaldes adv. [OE. unᵹewealdes], unintentionally; unˈweawed ppl. a., ? uncovered; unˈwend p.p. [f. wend v.], unturned; unˈweote [OE. unwita], an ignorant person; unˈweoteness, = unwiteness; unˈwharfed p.p. [f. wharf v.], unturned, unaltered; unˈwhate [f. whate n.], misfortune; unˈwille a. [cf. unwill n.], unwilling; unˈwisdomness [f. unwisdom], folly; unˈwiteness [cf. unweote above], ignorance; unˈwitless a. [see 5 a], senseless, insensible; unˈwitship [cf. witship], folly; unˈzyginde ppl. a. [cf. OE. unásecgende], indescribable.
a1225Juliana 3 (Bodl. MS.), An godd *unagin, euch godes ful.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 43 Innan þan ilke sea weren *unaneomned deor.
c1200Ormin 2003 Forr þatt itt shollde *unnawwnedd ben & all unncuþ & dærne. Ibid. 7227, 7381.
c1205Lay 25797 Ȝif þu hine ifindest..and þu al *un-aȝeten [c 1275 on-aȝete] aȝein miht iwende.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 49 Duue ne harmeð none fuȝele..and ðus kið þat hie is admod & *unbaleful.
c1200Ormin 1591 Forr þerrflinng bræd iss clene bræd, Forr þatt itt iss *unnberrmedd.
a1225Leg. Kath. 2243 He het..bihefden ham..& leauen hare bodies *unbiburiet alle, fode to wilde deor.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 121 Ure drihten..seh þat alle hie turnden fro him hem seluen to *unbihefe.
Ibid. 7 Do þat ure sowle & ure lichame be biheue, & forlaten al þat hem beð *unbiheue. a1240Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 265 Nes na lessere mi tale þen wes murhðes sondes ne unbihefre to ow.
c1205Lay. 8576 Forð ferde þe king..to his muchelen *vnbihoue [c 1275 unbiofþe].
a1225Ancr. R. 344 [The sin] of keorfunge, oðer of hurtunge, þuruh *unbiseinesse [v.r. -sehenesse].
c1175Lamb. Hom. 43 Herefter iseh paul hwer .iii. deoflen ledden an meiden swiðe *unbisorȝeliche.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 13 Þat man þe spuse haueð,..& þo þe beð *unbispused.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3777 Alle he sunken ðe erðe wið-in,..Swilc endesið *vn-bi-wen hauen.
c1200Ormin 17081 Forrþi toc Crist forrþrihht anan Unnbedenn & *unnbonedd Allræresst towarrd Nicodem.
c1230Hali Meid. 17 Flih alle thinges, & forhuh ȝeorne þat tus *unbotelich lure of mahe arisen.
Ibid. 27 Wið swuch *uncouerlich lure as meidenhades menske is.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 11 After clepenge, & ascinge, & *uncunne, & warienge,..& fele swilche deueles craftes.
c1230Hali Meid. 35 Þis is sunne, & ec *uncunnelicheð þe.
c1250Hymn in Trin. Coll. Hom. App. 258 Vre neode wel þu wost, & ure *unkunnesse in þine hond is michte mest; louerd þu vs blesce. 1357Lay Folks Catech. (L.) 390 For non schuld excuse hym of vnkunnys for to cun hem.
a1225Ancr. R. 140 Uor heo is her in *uncuðoe, iput in one prisune.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 133 Adam..was *undeaðlich forte he sinede. a1225Leg. Kath. 2292 Þet þing þet schal arisen..of deað to lif undeðlich.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 33 Ðe [deflen] bireueden him alle his riche weden þat waren unerned giue, & *undeðlicnesse, & loðlesnesse.
c1200Ormin 17571 Sawle iss ec wurrþlike shridd..Wiþþ *unndæþshildiȝnesse.
a1225Leg. Kath. 1174 Ah al þe weane..wente upon þe unstrencðe of þet *underue flesch, þet he neodeles nom.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 141 Þe see..adreinte pharao and al his ferede mid him, swa þet nes þere nefre an bileued *un-dreint.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3280 Of hem alle bi-leaf non fot *Vn-drincled in ðat salte spot.
a1225Ancr. R. 398 Ne schal neuer heorte þenchen swuch seluhðe, þet ich nulle ȝiuen more uor þine luue, vnimeteliche and *vnendliche more.
c1200Ormin 4149 Forr Crist iss strang & stedefasst & findiȝ & *unnfakenn. Ibid. 13327.
Ibid. 159 Oþre *unnfæwe shulenn ec Full glade & bliþe wurrþenn. Ibid. 792 Oþre menn unnfæwe.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 41 Ne scule ȝe neure god don *unforgolden. a1200Moral Ode 59 (Lamb. MS.), Ne scal nan ufel bon unbocht ne nan god unforȝolden [v.rr. -ȝolde, -gulde].
a1225Leg. Kath. 231 Þes heouenliche lauerd luueð treowe bileaue & nowðer blod ne ban of *unforgult ahte. c1230Hali Meid. 43 And te oðre þat halden ham vnforgult & cleane, beon ase sikere.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1566 Riȝt is his name hoten iacob, to min *un-frame. Ibid. 3037 Knowen sal ben, ðe to un-frame, In euerilc lond min miȝte name.
a1200Moral Ode 226 (Lambeth MS.), Ich..wille..Warni hom wið hore *unfrome [v.r. unfreme] ȝif ho me wulleð lusten. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 195 Ðe man noteð wel his ȝiepshipe þe birgeð him seluen wið his aȝene soule unfreme, & erneð after his soule freme.
c1205Lay. 2557 Membriz hefde inomen þat grið, ah sone he makede *unfrið. Ibid. 19404 Octa heold muche vnfrið, & Lot faht him ofte wið.
c1200Ormin 16895 Þatt lede þatt primmseȝȝnedd iss & iss ȝet all *unnfullhtnedd.
a1300E.E. Psalter cxxxviii. 15 Þine eghen segh *unfulmaking mine.
c1200Ormin 18993 Forr mikell follc & *unnȝerim Iss ȝet to daȝȝ onn erþe.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3047 O morgen,..ðhunder, and hail, and leuenes fir, Cam wel *vnghere.
a1250Owl & Night. 752 (Jesus Coll. MS.), Hwy atwitestu me myne vnstrengþe & myne *vngrete & myn vnlengþe?
c1200Ormin 16280 Forr hefiȝ & forr sware *unngriþþ Þatt hæþenn follc þær wrohhte.
Ibid. 425 Forr swa we don *unnhaȝherrliȝ Whattse we don to gode.
Ibid. 4277 Þatt dæþess wunde, Þatt Adam haffde ȝifenn uss Þurrh hiss *unnherrsummnesse. Ibid. 13425.
c1205Lay. 5101 Nis hit noht *un-huhtlic incker moder inc hateð.
Ibid. 18429 Swa we scullen of londe driuen *vnicunde [c 1275 onicunde].
Ibid. 5573 Ferde he hauede inoh muchel and *vnifeie.
Ibid. 8674 Of þon folke he sloh muchel & *unifoh [c 1275 onifoh]. Ibid. 23518.
Ibid. 17883 Þe leome þe toward France droh, he wes briht *vnifoh.
a1250Owl & Night. 1178 (Jesus Coll. MS.), Ertu ihoded oþer þu cursest *vnihoded?
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 177 Ðe water stremes on-heueden up here undes, þat is þat folc þe sore bimurneð, & swiðe bimeneð swich *unilimp. a1250Prov. ælfred 148 in O.E. Misc. 110 Strong..hit is to swynke a-yeyn vnylimpe.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 511 Ȝunder at my sadel boȝe hongeþ o botel, Ful of baume *oun-y-loȝe ys he euery del.
c1205Lay. 17961 Biuoren þa steorre wes þæ drake elcches wurmes *vnimake [c 1275 onimake]. Ibid. 19125.
a1225Juliana 5 (Bodl. MS.), Wið *unimeað muchel hird & wið heh duheðe.
a1250Prov. ælfred 444 in O.E. Misc. 128 Þanne deþ hit sone þat þe biþ *vnyqueme.
c1205Lay. 10281 In his herede he makede grið, & lette awæi þat *vniriht.
Ibid. 433 Þa lette he riden *vnirimed folc.
a1240Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 253 [To] þolien & a-beoren hare *unirude duntes.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 39 Þu scalt sahtnien þa þe beoð *unisahte mid alle þine mahte.
c1205Lay. 21788 Þa Scottes weoren to-deled mid muclen *vniselen ȝeond þa monie munten.
Ibid. 26446 Þe cniht was *unisele. c1250Moral Ode 101 in E.E.P. (1862) 28 Niere no man elles dieð ne sic, ne non vn-ysele [v.r. vnsele].
c1175Lamb. Hom. 31 He his *uniseli ȝif him is lað to donne þis. c1205Lay. 4014 Þe uniselie moder mid sexe hine to-snæde. a1225Ancr. R. 68 Sum uniseli..haueð ischriuen hire al to wundre.
c1205Lay. 7022 Seoððen wes his sune king þe *vniseliche [c 1275 onselliche] luuede.
a1200Moral Ode 198 Þurh him deð com in þis middenerd and oðer *uniselðe [v.r. unisalðe, vnyselyhþe]. c1205Lay. 2545 Bi-tweonen heom aræs..sleȝht & muchel seorwa, al for heora uniselðe.
Ibid. 9845 Betere weore sæhte Þene swulc *vnisibbe [c 1275 onsibbe].
a1250Owl & Night. 1522 (Cott. MS.), For hit itit ofte & ilome, þat wif & were beoþ *unisome.
c1205Lay. 18452 Heo droȝen heore þermes mid muchele *vnisunde.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 65 Pes cucurrit ad malum, fot ȝide to *uniðor[f].
c1205Lay. 21744 Þat is a seolcuð mere..mid fiscen & mid feoȝelen, mid *uniuele þingen.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 63 Þat we hauen agilt..oðer þurh nuteluste, oðer þurh *uniweald,..oðer recheluste.
c1205Lay. 5901 Fifti hundred cnihtes, mid alle heore wepnen, þe weoren *vniwælde; Þa oðere weoren swifte, heore wepnen weoren lihte.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 115 Þene bið his erd ihened,..ȝe on hungre, ȝe on cwalme, ȝe on *uniwidere.
Ibid. 69 Halde we us from *uniwil, & habben feir lete & ec skil.
c1205Lay. 14466 Ȝif þu wult þe awraken..& don þine *vniwinen [c 1275 onwines] wa.
Ibid. 29609 Heom sceomeden wel sære þat þat *vniwraste moncun heom iscend hafden.
c1250Death 94 in O.E. Misc. 174 For þine fule sunnen & for þin *uniwrenche [v.r. vny-].
c1175Lamb. Hom. 115 Wa þere þeode..þer þa aldormen etað on erne marȝen *u[n]laȝeliche. c1200Ormin 15867 All alls he draf..Ut off hiss Faderr temmple Þatt follc þatt he þærinne sahh Unnlaȝhelike himm ledenn.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 125 For þu art *unlef mine worde, þu shalt beo dumb forte þat child beo boren.
Ibid., And for þese þre þing [he] let hit *unleflich, & ne lefde hit noht, þat þe engel him seide. a1225Leg. Kath. 345 Þet alle ower leasunges beoð unlefliche.
a1225*Unlepped [see unweawed below].
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3153 Heued and fet, and in-rew meten, lesen fro ðe bones and eten, Wið wriðel and *vn-lif bread.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 61 Oðer þurh roberie, oðer þurh unrihte dom,..oðer þurh oðer *unlimp. Ibid. 195. a 1225 Ancr. R. 274 Al þis unlimp is icumen þuruh þe ȝetewardes slepe.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 131 *Un-liȝel man selde liȝeð, & soð-saȝel man seið ofte soð.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 97 Heo deð þere monnan heortan..þet heo beoð liðe þurh un-cladnesse [read *un⁓laðnesse]. a1225Ancr. R. 340 Edmodnesse, & abstinence, kulure unloðnesse, & oðer swuch uertuz.
a1275Prov. ælfred 689 in O.E. Misc. 138 He wole maken fule luden; he wole grennen, cocken, & chiden, & hewere [= ever] faren mid *vnluden.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 71 Ȝif hit was don on untime, oðer on *unluuede stede, oðer mid unluued lete, oðer on unluued wise.
a1200St. Marher. 15 Lutle ich mei makien to muchelin *unmeaðeliche, ȝef me hut ant heleð hit.
a1225Juliana 4 (Royal MS.), Wið *unmeð muchel hird & unduhti duheðe.
a1225Ancr. R. 238 And so hit *unmeðluker is, wrinnen aȝean þe uestluker.
Ibid. 122 Auh nu is muche wunder of ure muchele *unmeðschipe. Understondeð þis word.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3973 Quuað ðis asse ðus wið *vn-miðe, ‘Qui betes ðu me ðis ðridde siðe?’
a1225Ancr. R. 280 Mid þen ilke turn he mei hine *unmunlunge aworpen. a1240Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 249 Hire wune is to cumen bi stale ferliche & unmundlunge hwen me least weneð.
c1200Ormin 11457 To don summ hæfedd sinne, All hise þannkess, all *unnnedd. a1225Ancr. R. 340 Vor þe eorðe al unnet..bringeð forð misliche flures.
c1205Lay. 308 Þe fader heo bi-eode to his aȝre *unneode [c 1275 on-neode]. Ibid. 8741 To þes kinges unneoden.
a1225Leg. Kath. 1180 Ne mahte me nowðer godd,..ne halden ne neomen ȝet, for godd is *unneomelich.
a1225Ancr. R. 388 Heo underueng al ase on *unrecheleas þing.
c1230Hali Meid. 35 Þat *unroles uuel, þat pine upo pine, þat wondrende ȝeomerunge.
c1200Ormin 2823 Þin seollþe iss all *unnseȝȝenndlic. Ibid. 11177 O Godess name, þatt iss an Unnseȝȝenndliȝ Þrimmnesse.
Ibid. 1760 *Unnseȝȝenndlike mare inoh Þann aniȝ wihht maȝȝ þennkenn.
Ibid. 17296 Forr gast iss all *unn⁓seȝhennlic Biforenn flæshlic eȝhe. Ibid. 19465. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 254 Alre þinge schuppent, þet is godd unsehelich. Ibid. 904.
c1200Ormin 17241 Þær iss þa þatt illke mann *Unnseȝhennlike wharrfedd Fra flæsh till gast. Ibid. 19720.
Ibid. 2889, I þatt tatt he ne wollde nohht *Unnshaþiȝ wimmann wreȝhenn. Ibid. 15946 Þatt shep iss all unnshaþiȝ der.
Ibid. 1171 Ȝiff þatt tu follȝhesst soþ meocleȝȝc & soþ *unnshaþiȝnesse. Ibid. 14473.
1340Ayenb. 32 Huanne he is sleuuol,..*onssriuel, uoryetinde, slak, and fallinde.
a1250Owl & Night. 1164 (Cott. MS.), Þu ne singst neuer one siþe Þat hit nis for sum *unsiþe.
c1200Ormin 1176 Forr shep iss all *unnskaþefull & stille der & liþe. Ibid. 7915.
Ibid. 9209 Whærse iss all *unnsmeþe get Þurrh bannkess & þurrh græfess.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 151 Þe twafalde Mon is *un⁓staþelfest on alle his weies. a1225Ancr. R. 208 Vnstaðeluest bileaue aȝean holi lore, nis hit of prude?
c1205Lay. 18882 For ȝet he beoð *unstreoned þa sturieð al þa þeoden.
a1225Ancr. R. 144 Þe *untaleliche pinen þet no tunge ne mei tellen. Ibid. 410 Þeo blisse..is untalelich to alle world⁓liche tungen. a1240Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 251 Hell is..ful of sorhe untalelich, for ne mei na muð..rikenin hit ne tellen.
a1225Ancr. R. 312 *Unðeode ledden uorð þis child in his warde.
a1240Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 251 Helle is..ful of stench *unþolelich.
a1225Leg. Kath. 1155 Godd, þe is *unþrowlich, þrowede, oðer þolede pine oðer passiun, o þe deore rode.
Ibid. 161 Heo..ifont ter swiðe feole..þeotinde *unþuldeliche wið reowfule reames.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1180 On dreme him cam tiding for-quat He ðrowede and ðolede *un-timing ðat.
c1200Ormin 11179 Faderr, & Sune, & Haliȝ Gast, An Godd all *unntobrittnedd.
Ibid. 11518 An Godd all *unntodæledd. Ibid. 18512, I Godess herrte..All hal & unntodæledd.
1340Ayenb. 266 Ich yzeȝ þe ilke onspekynde an *on-todelinde mageste of þe holy trinyte be-gynnynge ne ende ne heþ.
a1200Moral Ode 265 Þer inne boð..þa þe *untrownesse duden þon þe ho sculden bon holde.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 964 Siðen bi-fel ðat sarrai, for ȝhe was longe *untuderi, Ȝhe bitagte abre maiden agar.
c1205Lay. 24655 Elche *untuhtle heo talden vnwurðe.
a1225Juliana 54 (Royal MS.), Nawt þreo godes, ah is an euer ihwer *untwemet [Bodl. MS. untweamet].
a1225Ancr. R. 232 Hwat wot, he seið, Salomon, þe þet is *unuonded?
Ibid. 272 Hwon Recabes sunen..ivindeð so *unwaker & so nesche ȝeteward.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 23 Hit nis nan wunder þah mon sunegie oðer hwile *unwaldes.
a1225Ancr. R. 424 No mon ne i-seo ham *unweawed [v.r. unlepped] ne open heaued.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Ac seðen hie henen wenden, atlai þat lond *unwend, & bicam waste.
a1225Ancr. R. 8 Ȝif eni *unweote acseð ou of hwat ordre ȝe beon. a1225Leg. Kath. 1054 Unweoten, þe weneð þet hit beo swa as hit on ehe bereð ham.
a1240Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 255 Þurh *unweotenesse ne mei ha nawt sunegin.
c1200Ormin 18794, I Godess herrte,..Þat aȝȝ iss all *unn⁓wharrfedd. Ibid. 18822.
a1250Owl & Night. 1148 (Cott. MS.), Al þat þu singst raþe oþer late Hit is euer of manne *unwate [v.r. vnhwate]. Ibid. 1267.
a1225Ancr. R. 238 Þeo uihteð treouliche þet..wiðsiggeð þe graunt þerof mid *unwille heorte.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 39 Ðe unwreste herde sit on *unwisdomnesse, for he ne can is orf ȝemen.
a1225Ancr. R. 278 Sunne & ignorance, þet is, unwisdom & *unwitenesse.
a1225Leg. Kath. 245 He ȝelt þe wurðmunt to witlese [R. *unwitlese, B. unwitelese] þing.
a1240Wohunge in O.E. Hom. I. 275 For sunne & *unwitschipe, ne hafdes tu nowðer.
1340Ayenb. 268 Hy byeþ glede of god *onzyginde, hy byeþ glede of zuo moche of hare oȝene holynesse.
4. a. When the words included in the previous section are eliminated, the early ME. instances of the prefix resolve themselves into the following classes: (a) survivals of OE. forms, chiefly adjectives, as unclene, uncouth, unfele, unfere, unhole, unmilde, unorne, unsely, and nouns, as unhele, unlaȝe, unmiȝt, unrede, unriȝt, unsele, unthank, unclenenes, unwisdom, and a few past participles, as unbegun, unborn, unboȝt, unheled, unwemmed, unwounded; (b) new formations from native elements, as unbuȝsom, uncomely, unhende, unsiker, untidy adjs., unhope, unstrength, unwinne ns., unbeten, undone, unshriven, undemed, unsouȝt pa. pples.; (c) adoptions of Scandinavian forms, or new formations on Scandinavian bases, as unmeek, unnait, unsauȝt, unsleȝe adjs.; unhap, unsauȝt, unskill ns., unbigged pa. pple.; (d) new formations on French bases, as ungracious, unsavoury, untrussed.
Down to 1300 these additions were comparatively few, and barely compensated for the disuse of obsolescent forms. About that date a southern writer like Robert of Gloucester uses only a small number of un- words, and most of these belong to the traditional stock. On the other hand, the northern Cursor Mundi has a rich variety of both old and new forms, and indicates clearly the beginning of a fresh period of development. The features which are most notable in this are: (a) the increased proportion of past pples. in comparison with adjs. and nouns; (b) the reappearance of pres. pples. (as undeiand, unfeland, unseand), which are wanting in earlier ME. texts; (c) the increase in the French element, as uncertain, undevote, undispensed, unfelun, unfruitand, unlele, unleute, unmesure, unpais, unponist, unpurvaid, unquit, unresun, unresunable, unvised, unwily. With this revival of the past and pres. pples., and the introduction of -able, the way was opened for some of the commonest uses of un- in the later language. The tendency thus indicated is clearly marked before the middle of the 14th century; Dan Michel uses pres. pples., as onconnynde, onspekynde, onwytynde, while Hampole has unconable, uncurable, unsufferable, and even unfillable, unstirrable. Before 1400 the period of free employment of the prefix had fully begun, as shown by the number of new formations appearing in the works of Chaucer, Wyclif, Trevisa, and others.
b. As in OE., the usual force of un- in ME. is purely negative. The pejorative sense however survived in a few words, as unrede, unsithe, unthew, unwether, unwine, unwrench, and appears also in unlede, unlude, unthede, unwiȝt; in unbeast it is employed with a French base.
c. The usual form of the prefix in ME. is un-, but on- appears in some English texts (as the later version of Layamon, the Ayenbite, and the Promp. Parv.), and is common in older Scottish, esp. in the 16th century; this form is still current in midland and south-western dialects and in Scotland. In Sir Ferumbras (c 1380) the form oun- is employed, and a pronunciation corresponding to this |uːn-| is still heard in Aberdeenshire. In detached use (see 5 d) the form |oːn|, sometimes written ohn, is also employed in the same locality.
5. Some peculiarities in the use of un-, arising in the ME. period but surviving beyond it, require special notice.
a. It is sometimes redundantly prefixed to adjs. ending in -less. Early instances are unrecheleas reckless, unroless restless, unwitles insensible (see 3 above), and ungiltles guiltless (Sir Tristr. 2144). The type, however, chiefly belongs to the later 16th and the 17th cent.; among the instances from that period are unboundless, uncomfortless, undauntless, uneffectless, unfathomless, unhelpless, unmatchless, unmerciless, unnumberless, unrecomptless, unremorseless, unrespectless, unshameless, unshapeless, untimeless; as late as 1786 unquestionless is found, and unrestless exists in modern dialect.
b. From the 14th century onwards there was considerable variation, when the base was of Latin origin, between the Latin in-, im-, etc., and the native un-. Early examples of forms with un-, which either then or a little later have variants with in-, im-, are unability, uncorrigible, uncorrupt, uncurable, undign, undiscreet, unmeasurable, unmovable, unnumerable, unperfect, unperfection, unportable, unpossible. Similar formations continued to multiply during the following centuries, so that a large proportion of the words beginning with il-, im-, in-, ir- had corresponding forms in un-, as unadequate, unadvertence, unarticulate, unartificial, unattentive, unaudible, unauspicious, uncapable, etc. The culminating period of the double forms lies in the 17th century; since that time the tendency has been to differentiate, and to discard one or other of the doublets, the forms with in-, etc., being very commonly preferred when the whole word has a distinctively Latin character, as inadequate, inadvertence, inarticulate, etc. Even with such forms there is no absolute rule, and doublets are still numerous, as in- or un-advisable, in- or un-alienable, etc. (See in-2.)
By inadvertence, or simple errors in printing, un- or vn- sometimes appears in works of the 16–17th cent. for im-, in-, or em-, en-, as vncoraged encouraged, unlarge enlarge, unployed employed, unpoysonynge empoisoning, unflam'd inflamed, unpostumed imposthumed.
c. When two or more negative terms occurred in the same clause and were coupled by and or or, the prefix was sometimes employed only with the first. The following are examples of this practice, which is especially common in Scottish of the 16th century.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 129 To kepe hym self vnblekkid or defoulid fro þis world. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 944 Lett neuer wollyn cloth..passe a seuenyght to be vn⁓brosshen & shakyn. a1500in Ratis Raving 3 The synis that he has done wnconfessyt of or rapentyt. 1506in Charters, &c., Edinb. (1871) 189 Throw selling of clayth..vnsene or customit be yow. 1565Rec. Earld. Orkney 274 Uncoackit, compellit, or seducit be ony way. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 83 The insolent souldiers..nothing dedicated to the seruice of God, left vnpolluted and defaced. Ibid. 91 Which companies..came neere vnto the towne vn⁓seene or discouered. 1707Mortimer Husb. 608 Eggs, un⁓broken or crack'd.
d. When un- is prefixed to present or past participles, these are rarely employed in a true participial function, but become adjectival in character. Examples of the present participle, however, occasionally occur with a following object, or with a prepositional construction; and in Scottish use, from at least the 15th century, un- in such cases has acquired the sense of ‘without’. More rarely, in the older language, it has the same sense with passive participles. Both constructions are still retained in north-eastern Scottish dialect, with the prefix in the form on or ohn, frequently written separate from the participle. (The spelling ohn is due to, or has led to, a false association with G. ohne without.) Examples of these uses are:—
(a)1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 155 All that I may gett apon him, unslaand him. Ibid. 163 How may than a man do till othir sik dissait, ungrevand God? 1573Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 215 [To] gif to thame..gude entreatment..unrasand the present pryces in ony thing. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 122 Sa mony as the bot wald hauld on drowning thame sellffis. 1588Reg. Privy Council Scot. IV. 279 Thay depairtit furth agane.., undoing ony violent deid. 1621Lady M. Wroth Urania 103 Vnknowne, and vndiscouering your selfe to any, you come among vs. 1632Lithgow Trav. i. 7 The harmlesse innocent, vnexpecting euill, may suddenly bee surprised. 1786Burns Ep. Young Friend viii, Resolutely keep its laws, Uncaring consequences. 1796M. Robinson Angelina I. 176, I could perceive him..leaning pensively on his hand, and for whole hours unvarying his attitude. 1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. xlvii, As stands a lofty mind, Worn, but unstooping to the baser crowd. 1845Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 375 Earth..basks in her own free light Unfed, unaided, unrequiring aught. 1885A. O. Legge Unpop. King II. 295 To mount a ladder..untouching the rounds with their feet.
(b)1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 185 Be quhat resoune than suld he consent..till his awin scathe.., unmaid sekir to be amendit? 1597Trials for Witchcraft in Spalding Club Misc. (1841) I. 91 To ryss airlie befoir the sone, on betechit hir self to God, and on spokin. 1871W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xlii, I'm nae responsible to gae afore Sir Simon onhed my papers upo' me. 1879G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie xxii, Wad ye hae a fellow-cratur live to a' eternity ohn been ashamed o' sic a thing's that?
6. a. During the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries the use of un- steadily increased, a large number of words being thus formed which have permanently established themselves in the language, besides many more which occur only incidentally or rarely. The freedom with which the prefix could be used in new formations appears clearly in the dictionaries of Florio and Cotgrave, who constantly employ it in rendering Italian and French negative terms in in-, etc. As the use of un- or in- (see 5 b) was still largely a matter of choice, and many of the older formations were still current, the vocabulary of the 17th century exhibits many types in common use which are now rare or obsolete, and in general is extremely rich in words beginning with un-. During the 18th century many of the older forms disappeared, and new formations became more limited in number and variety, but the sense of freedom in the use of the prefix when desired is clearly shown by a large number of the examples given by Ash in his dictionary in 1775. These were obviously manufactured for the purpose, and when added to the genuine words which he has included, make up a total of about 5,000 entries. In this way Ash frequently anticipates the actual introduction of new formations. In the 19th century the use of the prefix became still more common, it being freely applied to almost any adjectival or participial form, until its employment has become almost unrestricted, within certain limits indicated below. On this account it is impossible to make a complete enumeration even of forms which have actually been used, still less of those which may be created at any time.
b. The form of the prefix indicates that it was originally unstressed (although in OE. poetry it may have stress and carry the alliterative letter), and normally it still bears this relationship to the main part of the word. There is, however, considerable tendency to give stress to it in rare or casual formations, and whenever the negation or contrast which it implies is at all emphatic. In such cases the compound may either have two equal stresses, or the prefix may have the stronger stress; the latter degree of emphasis is usually indicated by underlining or italicizing, and the use of the hyphen; e.g. ‘he is distinctly un-literary’.
c. The following sections illustrate the usual types of current formations, with illustrations drawn from unimportant modern examples, which might be indefinitely increased. All older examples in actual use, and all words important either in themselves or on account of their source, are given in their alphabetical place in the main series. As a large number of these are purely negative and self-explanatory, the place of a definition is supplied by a reference to the section of this article under which the precise type of formation is explained and illustrated.
The entries in Ash (see above) have been regarded as worthy of note only when they anticipate the appearance of a word in actual use. In these cases a reference to Ash is given within parentheses.
A purely artificial formation (suggested by Euphuistic diction) is un-to-be-imitated (Scott Monast. xx).
7. a. Un- is freely prefixed to adjectives of all kinds, except where a Latin form in in-, etc., has definitely established itself in common use. Both forms, however, may co-exist, and in some cases a new formation with un- has been introduced when that with in- has acquired a connotation which it is desirable to avoid. The form with un- is then purely negative, while the other may have almost a positive sense, e.g. un-moral in contrast with immoral. (When the form with un- has similarly acquired a positive implication, the simple negative or neutral sense is expressed by the use of non- or not-.) There is also considerable restriction in the use of un- with short simple adjectives of native origin, the negative of these being naturally supplied by another simple word of an opposite signification. There is thus little or no tendency now to employ such forms as unbroad, undeep, unwide, unbold, unglad, ungood, unstrong, unwhole, unfew, etc., which freely occur in the older language. On the other hand, derivative forms in -al, -ant, -ar, -ary, -ent, -ful, -ic, -ical, -ile, -ish, -ive, -ly, -ory, -ous, -y, etc., are too numerous to be completely recorded. The general character of the less usual or permanent of these and other adjectival forms is illustrated by the following examples, which are a severly restricted selection, and could be indefinitely increased by the addition of less noteworthy material.
In dictionaries of various dates many formations are given of which no real instance has been found. Levins (1570) has unhateful, unprecious. Florio (1598 and 1611) renders equivalent Italian words in in- by such forms as unavailful, unbrittle, uncontinuall, uncoy, unempty, unfrail, unnice, unoffensible, unopen, unplenteous, unshrill, unvalorous. Ash (1775) gives unalphabetical, unattendant, uncohesive, uncompatible, uncompressible, uncompulsive, etc. (about 80 in all). Later dictionaries (Webster, Worcester, etc.), with or without indication of source, have the entries unabundant, unbiographical, uncogent, uncollectible, undeceptive, undeliberative, etc.
Recent formations include: unadult, un-African, unairworthy, unambivalent, unarcadian, unarchæological, un-Australian, unbitchy, unblameworthy, unblasé, unbureaucratic, un-Byronic, uncerebral, uncharismatic, unchic (also absol.), un-Chinese, unchipper, unchoosy, un-Christmassy, uncomfy, uncomposite, uncomradely, unconscient, uncool [esp. cool a. 4 e] (also absol.), uncooperative, uncosy, uncranky, uncreditworthy, uncuddlesome, uncuddly, un-Darwinian, undeducible, un-Dickensian, undimensional, undisastrous, undoctrinaire, undynamic, unecological, uneconomic, unecstatic, unecumenical, unegoistic, unegotistic, unegotistical, unerotic, unetymological, unexotic, unfaery (poet.), unfeline, unfeminist, unflamboyant, unflashy, unfond, unfresh, unfurtive, un-Gaelic, ungay, ungimmicky, unglamorous, ungroovy, unhep (also absol.), unhip (also absol.), unhors(e)y, unideological, unintrospective, unirksome, unironic, unironical, un-Islamic, un-Italian, un-Jamesian, un-Japanese, unjingoistic, unkeen (also absol.), unkosher, unlegendary, unlocal, unmarital, un-Marxist, unmawkish, unmeritocratic, unneurotic, unodoriferous, unopen, unpacifist, unphonemic, unphon(e)y (also absol.), unphotogenic, unplatonic, unpolemical, unpolicemanly, unpositive, unprestigious, unpriggish, unprivate, un-Proustian, unpugnacious, unradiogenic, unresilient, unrevolutionary, unrisky, unroadworthy, un-Russian, unscenic, unseductive, unselective, unsemantic, unsexy, un-Shelleyan, unsnobbish, unsorry, un-Spanish, unspecial, unspectacular, unstarchy, unsterile, unstiff, unstuffy, unsycophantic, unsymmetric, untendentious, untense, untherapeutic, unthistly, unticklish, untogether, untouristy (also absol.), untraditional, untrendy, unurgent, unutilitarian, unviable, un-Victorian, unviolent, unvisual, un-Western, un-with-it, unworthwhile, unyoung.
1888Pall Mall G. 6 Oct. 6/1 That *unacoustic chamber in the Town Hall.
1944A. L. Rowse Eng. Spirit xxxiii. 229 There was something curiously *unadult, ungrown-up about him. 1976R. B. Parker Promised Land xxiv. 152 She's not a fool, but she's misled, maybe unadult.
1883Contemp. Rev. June 815 The Scotch are..the most *unæsthetical.
1923D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 31 An ultimate desperateness, *un-African. 1979Guardian 6 Sept. 11/7 Parliament [in Kenya] has just thrown out as ‘un-African’ a Marriage Bill which would have outlawed wife-beating.
1907Cornh. Mag. May 617 For such a motion the machine would be longitudinally unstable, and, shall we say, ‘*unairworthy’—to coin an analogue for the word ‘unseaworthy’, as applied to ships. 1979Daily Tel. 8 Nov. 3/5 A fine..has been imposed on Braniff International Airways for conducting hundreds of flights with aircraft that were allegedly in an ‘unairworthy condition’.
1842De Morgan Diff. & Int. Calculus 3, I should not care if anyone thought this Treatise *unalgebraical.
1977Lancet 2 July 36/2 We felt that obstetricians and midwives should remain *unambivalent in their efforts to advise smoking mothers to give up the tobacco habit during pregnancy. 1981London Rev. Bks. 5–18 Feb. 9/1 No such vision is likely to be utterly unambivalent, regret being as intrinsic to the human condition as is hope.
1862Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xiii. i. (1872) V. 6 *Unanarchic, disciplined at all points.
1962Auden Dyer's Hand (1963) 350 If the landscape of New England is *unarcadian, so is its social life.
1927Observer 11 Dec. 16/5 The workmanship and designs of ancient Peruvian pottery..seemed, to my *unarchaeological eye, so like the Etruscan as to be almost identical. 1965J. A. Michener Source (1966) 890 Swinging his pick with un⁓archaeological vigor he felt its point bite through a thin layer of semi-rock and then leap forward into nothingness.
1867Macm. Mag. Feb. 355/1 These found it consistent with their *unarduous duties to hold livings at a distance.
1880Warren Book-plates viii. 95 The only *unarmorial book⁓plates.
1877‘H. A. Page’ De Quincey I. viii. 151 Certain solitary *unassimilative elements in Wordsworth's character.
1881Athenæum 2 Apr. 461/3 The *un-Attic character of the diction of the tragic poets.
1841Bosanquet Rights Poor Vind. 298 The sweeping and cleansing of the Augean Church, from motives the..most wholly *unaugean.
1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai v. 82 The larder was notable for two very *un-Australian..gadgets.
1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 132 Certain fools cavil at Lady Consol's box at the Opera as *un-bankerish and prodigal.
1804Coleridge in Mem. Coleorton (1887) I. 56 The effect of my own *unbellerophontic countenance.
1861W. Barnes in Macm. Mag. June 128 Where..a man's..arms are so short or *unbendsome.
1963S. Farrar Death in Wrong Bed x. 148 You're the *unbitchiest woman I know.
1973Country Life 18 Oct. 1210/3 This most readable and unbitchy of biographies.
1883Q. Rev. Jan. 188 His picturesque, naïve, and *unbitter narrative.
1966S. Smith Frog Prince 78 Touch, where the feeling is most vulnerable, *Unblameworthy.
1860Queen Victoria Let. 6 June in R. Fulford Dearest Child (1964) 258, I like them extremely, so nice, natural, sensible, quiet and so *un⁓blasé. 1977C. Wood James Bond, Spy who loved Me vii. 58 Only the most skilful and unblasé eye would be able to detect an unfamiliar outline.
1833Fraser's Mag. VIII. 433 She is a very nice, *unbluestockingish, well-dressed..young lady.
1833Moore Mem. (1854) VI. 343 Considering all the *un-Brahminical things he has done.
1825Jamieson, *Onbraw,..Ugly, not handsome;..Unbecoming.
1970Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 16 Oct. 68/1 The first stages..were remarkably easy, *unbureaucratic, and free from the famous red tape.
1936F. R. Leavis Revaluation vii. 270 The aesthete who achieved so *un-Byronic and so un-Shelleyan a note in the contemplation of human suffering. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 23 Jan. 45/4 Even his forged confessions have an unbyronic slime about them.
1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 91 He should look well-fed and *uncareworn.
1934F. Scott Fitzgerald Tender is Night ii. i. 153 His criterion of *uncerebral phrase-making was that it was American.
1971P. Ziegler King William IV ii. 29 The Hanoverians had brought their own style of home-spun and singularly *uncharismatic monarchy to England.
1960Guardian 6 May 10/6 Anything thicker is totally *unchic. 197551 Newsmagazine 12 Sept. 2/2 You'll read about New York's politics, events, labor, the chic and unchic.
1934Webster, *Un-Chinese. 1974Dawa Norbu Red Star over Tibet xi. 176 Norzin-la occasionally uttered the words ‘San fan, shuang jian’ in her un-Chinese accent before the uneducated masses.
1969J. Fowles French Lieutenant's Woman lvii. 403 The evening that saw him so *unchipper in his place of refreshment.
1948M. Allingham More Work for Undertaker xiv. 177 The Fuller gang..made quite a name for themselves as being remarkably *unchoosy.
1927D. H. Lawrence Let. 12 Dec. (1962) II. 1026 The post is so tiresome here, and altogether one feels so *unchristmassy. 1982Daily Tel. 24 Dec. 1/6 The Leader of the Opposition..was in a most unChristmassy temper.
1826J. Gilchrist Lecture 43 Too theoretic..for plain, *uncollegian understandings.
1888Kipling Wee Willie Winkie (1889) 51 I'm so *uncomfy! Come and tuck me up. 1925A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves iii. vi. 222 Such an uncomfy house! 1981‘A. Hall’ Pekin Target xvii. 181 Put it under my head..no need to be uncomfy.
1920W. B. Yeats Michael Robartes & Dancer 3 It follows from this Latin text..that all beautiful women may Live in *uncomposite blessedness.
1968Listener 23 May 654/3 The foreign editor charges his chief with suppressing news vital to Party comrades: his chief has rebuked him to the extent of three columns for ‘the anarchy of emotions and passions that give rise to *uncomradely and irresponsible actions’.
1883Sir H. Oakeley Bible Psalter Pref. p. v, That the extensive compass of many of them renders their melodies *uncongregational.
1929R. Bridges Testament of Beauty iv. 184 Like as in *unconscient things whence conscience came, ther is also thru'out conscient life.
a1831Bentham Univ. Gram. Wks. 1843 VIII. 357/2 Interjections may be termed the *unconstructural parts of speech.
1863Life in South II. 196 The British Consul..was deeper than ever in the pressure of *unconsular business.
1866N. & Q. 22 Sept. 221 A slim middle-aged man, in quaint *uncontemporary habiliments.
1851H. D. Wolff Madrilenia (1853) 51 That timid and *uncontemptuous smile so much their characteristic.
1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 253/2 An *uncontractile ligamentous capsule.
1887D. C. Murray Old Blazer's Hero x, With an eminently *unconversational aspect.
1953W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) vi. 61 ‘It's better to meet alone like this.’ His smile was ambiguously sexual. ‘Nick is a very *un-cool guy.’ Ibid. xiv. 145, I learned the new hipster vocabulary..‘cool’, an all-purpose word indicating anything you like or any situation that is not hot with the law. Conversely, anything you don't like is ‘uncool’. 1958G. Lea Somewhere there's Music xx. 175 Like, buy my forthcoming book on what's uncool in American education. 1960[see daddy-o]. 1961R. Russell Sound v. 101, I dunno, old man, to the average colored person, the average gray acts like he's in a sweat most of the time. Hungup. Uncool. 1966Punch 30 Nov. 824 The uncool in the audience clapped heartily. The hip young watched in stony contempt. 1968It 1–14 Nov. 16/1 The whole place [sc. Turkey]..is very very uncool. The Turks seem to be ready to turn with a malicious vengeance on young Europeans for the least (often no) provocation. 1979Guardian 5 July 9/3 Those men who keep their cool are dragged, willy nilly, into violence not of their making and are then tarred with the same brush as their uncool brethren.
1934Webster, *Uncooperative. 1944J. S. Huxley On Living in Revolution xi. 114 The neighbours had at first been wholly unco-operative. 1970Morning Star 11 May 4/4 The kindergarten teacher told me that she deals in the same way with unco-operative children.
1893Beerbohm Let. 3 Dec. (1964) 82, I thought the streets would be rather *un-cosy. 1976Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Mar. 344/2 Paris, where they knew nobody, and where their collègues de carrière were, at the outset at least, singularly uncosy.
1935E. Bowen House in Paris ii. vii. 159 Mrs. Michaelis joined two more *un-cranky committees.
1941Scrutiny IX. 376 Yet, if it is his weakness to seem unaware of the amount of *uncreditworthy coinage he puts into circulation, at least he knows the problems which must beset anyone who writes poetry to-day. 1960Times 29 Feb. 14/7 Cases which the banks would consider uncredit-worthy.
1881Blackw. Mag. Mar. 369 A ripe scholar of old-fashioned and *uncrotchety beliefs.
1817H. T. Colebrooke Algebra, etc. 12 The first [digit] is a cube's place; and the two next *uncubic.
1946M. Dickens Happy Prisoner vii. 122 Elizabeth..began to give Heather more help with the children, which she did on modern hospital lines, *un⁓cuddlesome, but extremely efficient.
1963Punch 13 Nov. 693/1 Huge animals all around; gross, *uncuddly.
1800Coleridge Unpubl. Lett. to Estlin (1884) 78 How I did think of your Sunday suppers, their light *uncumbrous simplicity.
1899A. H. Japp Cuckoo iii. 162, I regard this phrase as in itself very unhappy—and, in fact, *un-Darwinian. 1955H. Hodgkinson Doubletalk 43 ‘The modern theory of mutations’ is regarded as un-Darwinian. 1977D. Cory Bennett iv. 121 If he..had evolved from a mere something..to a sentient personality, then Bennett in a most un-Darwinian way gave an opposite impression.
1812W. Tennant Anster F. iv. lxxiv, No man *undeaf could stockishly refrain.
1813Examiner 12 Apr. 228/2 Questions..of that innoxious and *undeceptious cast.
1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) II. 643 Evidence being subservient to justice no otherwise than in so far as it is *undeceptitious.
1854Geo. Eliot tr. Feuerbach's Essence Christianity viii. 84 The differentia specifica..is always in the ordinary sense inexplicable, *undeducible. 1952Mind LXI. 267 What is unexpectable—or unpredictable or undeducible.
1862T. W. Higginson Army Life (1870) 34, I am equable and *undepressible.
1870Sat. Rev. 5 Feb. 194/2 The *undestructive revolution which his theory..was certain to bring about.
1879S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. xvii. 367 Various indications,..some of which are too general, or too *undeterminal, to aid in solving the question.
1948F. R. Leavis Great Tradition iii. 133 The *un-Dickensian subtlety—the penetrating analysis. 1982Times 30 June 8/5 Damn un-Dickensian sentimentality.
1847H. Bushnell Chr. Nurt. iii. (1861) 283 This unetherial and *undiffusive kind of bliss.
1940W. Faulkner Hamlet iii. i. 173 She owns no dimension against the lambent and *undimensional grass.
1931V. Sackville-West All Passion Spent iii. 218 He managed to be an *undisastrous Prime Minister of England during five..difficult years. 1963Economist 28 Dec. 1317/2 Moving..towards undisastrous answers.
1962Times 4 Apr. 6/5 Her sensibility inclines her to an *undoctrinaire approach. 1976Daily Tel. 2 Dec. 18 He was sensible, un⁓doctrinaire, moderate—a consensus man.
1844B. Jowett in Life Dean Lake (1901) 166 The old Bishop, like Lee, is very *undonnish.
1872Howells Wedding Journ. (1892) 101, I speak of the *un⁓dressful sex alone.
1960C. Day Lewis Burial Day vii. 140 E., despairing..of so *un⁓dynamic a lover..married a don. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 33 Their proposals..struck me as extremely undynamic and dull.
1976N. Postman Crazy Talk 7 What is wrong with Orwell's advice is that it is *unecological. It places language outside of any context in which it is used.
1909Webster, *Uneconomic. 1953Maori Affairs Act (N.Z.) 71 For the purposes of this Part of the Act, the expression ‘uneconomic interest’ means a beneficial freehold interest the value of which..does not exceed the sum of twenty-five pounds. 1971‘G. Black’ Time for Pirates ii. 40 Vicious, totally uneconomic price cutting.
1858Queen Victoria Let. 28 July in R. Fulford Dearest Child (1964) 125 With your..poetical, romantic mind how can you be so *unecstatic? 1953Essays in Criticism III. 95 A universe..forever beyond..tomorrow's unecstatic nights at home.
1970Irish Jurist V. 97, I have given these individuals the benefit of the doubt (if the phrase is not *unecumenical).
1845Mrs. Carlyle in Froude Lett. & Mem. (1883) I. 338, ‘I find your toast *unegoist,’ said he.
1934Webster, *Unegoistic. 1942E. Bowen Bowen's Court x. 270 Henry was unegoistic.
1939D. Cecil Young Melbourne i. 25 She cared for few people; but these she loved with a strong, *unegotistic affection. 1977Gramophone Aug. 309/3, I should stress that this is a completely unegotistic performance, devoid of any mannerisms or interpretative point-making.
1932E. Wharton in Scribner's Mag. Feb. 113/1 Like many perfectly *unegotistical women Catherine Glenn had no subject of conversation except her own affairs.
1858Wilkinson in Rawlinson Herodotus ii. cxi. II. 182 note, The story about the women is equally *un-Egyptian.
1878J. Payn By Proxy x, His system of morality..is singularly deficient and *unelemental.
1856Olmsted Slave States 120 In the words of a certain *un-eminent Southern divine.
1814Ann. Reg., Chron. 284 He had demanded the place of marshal of the admiralty, not an *unemolumentary place.
c1813Epitaph Gen. Fitzpatrick (Jod.), Through life he walk'd *unemulous of Fame.
1885Stevenson Prince Otto iii. iv, I had no merit but a love, slavish and *unerect.
1930V. Sackville-West Edwardians vi. 275 Morning is bleak and *unerotic. 1962Auden Dyer's Hand (1963) 374 The personal relation was completely unerotic.
1876Fortn. Rev. 1 Apr. 568 What is now called the etymological or historical spelling of words, is, in many cases, utterly *unetymological and un⁓historical. 1960P. H. Reaney Orig. Eng. Place-Names i. 13 A similar unetymological -ham- appears in the early forms of Alphamstone, Alfelmestune 1086, Alfhampston 1318, ‘ælfhelm's farm’.
1828E. Irving Last Days 102 The word in our text is ‘not eucharistical or *uneucharistical’.
1818Bentham Ch. Eng. Introd. 18 The one short and *unexcludible prayer excepted.
1827Moore Hist. Irel. I. i. 5 The yet *unexcursive Greeks.
1934Webster, *Unexotic. 1951‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids vi. 116 Her pleasant though unexotic countenance. 1983Out of Town Dec. 16/3 For a haunt of Jungle Jims the bbc at Bristol is distinctly unexotic.
1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 599 The limited and *unextensible quantity of time allowed.
1885W. B. Yeats in Dublin Univ. Rev. May 83/1 Peace, peace, the earth's a-quake. I hear Some barbarous, *un-faery thing draw near.
1869‘Mark Twain’ Innocents Abroad ix. 87 Their *unfeline conduct in eating up all the Tetouan cats aroused a hatred toward them in the breasts of the Moors. 1930Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Sept. 698/3 Rachel, sweet and serene, destined to be the loyal and unfeline friend.
1862Bagehot Lit. Stud. (1879) I. 236 The whole tide of abstract discussion is quite *unfemale.
1924Blackw. Mag. Jan. 73/2 It is only my retrograde feminine mind that will jump to these *unfeminist conclusions. 1980M. Drabble Middle Ground 2 ‘I know my limitations,’ said Kate. ‘That's a very unfeminist remark,’ said Hugo provocatively.
1873Mrs. H. Wood Mast. Greylands i, Enough to give an *unfinancial man the night-mare.
1934Webster, *Unflamboyant. 1962Times 12 Nov. 4/1 Camberabero..had a neat and unflamboyant partner in Laforgue. 1981J. Johnston Christmas Tree 6 The older ladies would wear hats, neat, unflamboyant hats.
1967Punch 29 Nov. p. x/2, *Unflashy surroundings designed to relax diners... Very good French cooking. 1979Guardian 9 Oct. 19/8 King is a quiet, unflashy man.
1804D. O'Connell Let. 20 Aug. (1972) I. 115, I know you are *unfond of that expedition—But if I do go I solemnly pledge myself to you that I will not put my foot in other than Capt. O'Sullivan's own boat. 1964Punch 11 Nov. 732/2 A medley of mutually unfond nationalities. 1980Country Life 3 July 69/4 She was not un-fond of her children, but they stood in the way of..a full working life.
1816Coleridge Lay Serm. (Bohn) 329 The *unfoodful trees in the shadowy world of Maro.
1889Skrine Mem. Thring 251 The subtle, tender, yielding, *un⁓forceful growth of tree and herb.
1871Palgrave Lyr. Poems 78 Sigh not, if the smiling band Their *unforethoughtful brightness keep.
1840Carlyle Heroes vi. (1904) 209 The King coming to them in the rugged *unformulistic state shall be no King.
1870Standard 14 Dec., Till there is not a battered and *unfoul place left.
1854C. M. Yonge Heartsease II. iii. iv. 164 In spite of clinging *unfresh muslin and shrinking figure, with the unmistakable air of high breeding. 1976J. Colville Footprints in Time xi. 63 The unfresh air of the Central War Room.
1879F. W. Robinson Bridge of Glass i. i, When the victim is reticent and *un⁓fretful.
1881A. Knox New Playgr. xiii. 315 These *un⁓frisky matrons were certainly safe.
1875Blake Zool. 26 Two principal toes, with two *unfunctional and rudimentary ones.
1967J. Porter Chinks in Curtain vii. 68, I spun round and assumed as *unfurtive an air as possible.
1949St. J. Ervine Craigavon ii. lix. 278 His singularly *un-Gaelic name. 1977A. T. Q. Stewart Narrow Ground i. i. 28 The markedly un-Gaelic physical characteristics of the people now living in the Irish-speaking areas of the south and west.
1936M. Franklin All that Swagger xxxv. 273 Laura and Humphrey, both big and *ungay, would make a fine buggy pair. 1977Logophile iv. 9/2, I have known some very, very un-gay homosexuals, and many gay heterosexuals.
1856Gosse Tenby v. 49 To be easily procured by the most *ungeological virtuosi.
1963Punch 22 May 753/3 An *ungimmicky, original writer. 1977Times 15 Feb. 8/6 It is the goblet that captures me. I love the ungimmicky, familiar and simple lines.
1934Webster, *Unglamorous. 1960Times 15 Jan. 16/4 Mr. David Tindle's unglamorous but sympathetically conceived ‘Girl dressing’.
1810S. Green Reformist I. 206 The *ungothic, and more modern, ménage of their master's sons.
1866Howells Venet. Life v. 67 A certain gliding, *ungradual locomotion, altogether spectral.
1856J. A. Symonds Let. in Life (1895) I. iii. 81, I pick up a good many words and phrases in an easy and *ungrammary way.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. i. 23 A manner so *un⁓grandisonian that I leave a special description..to my note⁓book.
1967P. Welles Babyhip (1968) viii. 73 They're so *ungroovy but we have to do it this way.
1944C. Calloway Hepsters Dict., *Unhep, not wise to the jive, said of an icky, a Jeff, a square. 1961L. Hughes Ask your Mama xii. 84 (heading) Liner notes for the poetically unhep.
1844Tupper Heart ii. 15 Notwithstanding all these *unheroinals, no one..could look upon Maria without pleasure.
1864Grosart Lambs all Safe (1865) 96 My answer here is again *unhesitant and direct.
1940Music Makers May 37/3 *Unhip, not wise to the jive, an icky..a square. 1959C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 131, I climbed in the rear seat, with a fine view of their..un-hip Jermyn street hair-dos. 1968Esquire Apr. 88/2 There is nothing more detrimental to anything hip than to have it fall into the square hands of the hopelessly unhip. 1974H. L. Foster Ribbin', jivin', & playin' Dozens v. 180 Because the teacher may be unhip and square middle class, he has no idea that the game is being run.
1840C. O. Müller's Hist. Lit. Greece vi. §4. 68 Yet the fundamental ideas of the Cypria are so *un-Homeric.
1931Ld. Wodehouse in ‘Marco’ Introd. Polo p. v, Living in the ‘*unhorsey’ atmosphere of ships. 1955H. Smith Horseman through Six Reigns xvi. 163 A very un⁓horsy and rather ungainly lady.
1849Herschel Ess. (1857) 626 Some *unhygrometric, non-metallic substance.
1935N. Mitchison We have been Warned iii. 298 Tom refused to admit that there is anything *unideological about cafés. 1981Daily Tel. 28 Nov. 12/5 To live as an ordinary, totally un⁓ideological private person.
1886H. Sweet in Academy 6 Feb. 94 In spite of the *unimpartial and personal tone of his remarks.
1810Bentham Packing (1821) 265 Its only cognoscible, determinate and *unimpostrous state.
1887Athenæum 8 Jan. 57/2 A series of accurate, but singularly *unincisive lectures.
1839[Mrs. Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 275 The tracts which come from England are altogether *un-Indian, and unfit to translate.
1831Edin. Rev. LIII. 390 Not allowed to slumber in the quiescence of an *uninfringible monopoly.
1883Mrs. Oliphant Sheridan v. 170 Genial, not *uninnocent amusement.
1879Expositor IX. 116 Modern editors have..treated the poem as *unintensive.
1913Webster, *Unintrospective. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Mar. 241/2 Such a straightforward lie was possible to so unintrospective an artist as Milton, but not to Donne.
1929W. Faulkner Sartoris iii. viii. 259 And so there was another bond between them, but *unirksome.
1938G. Greene in Spectator 4 Nov. 782/2 Miss Richardson's *unironic and undetached method. 1979L. Lerner Love & Marriage i. 18 Poetry like this is essentially unironic.
1934Webster, *Unironical. 1942Scrutiny X. 345 Shakespeare's power to present acceptably and movingly the unironical vision (for us given in Miranda and Ferdinand) goes with his power to contemplate the irony at the same time.
1958O. Caroe Pathans i. 13 The *un-Islamic flavour of the names of the two sons of Sarbanr..will not escape notice. 1984Times 31 Mar. 4/8 Artifical methods of birth control are un⁓islamic.
1934Webster, *Un-Italian. 1939Burlington Mag. May. 227/2 Both of them have an un-Italian flavour. 1973P. Evans Bodyguard Man iv. 36 The mainlanders..think of the people from the islands as being un-Italian.
1931T. H. Pear Voice & Personality iv. 35 The workings of the mind are..designated in single stark letters. Their messages are *un-Jamesian and un-Proustian, but concise. 1979F. Kermode Genesis of Secrecy iv. 81 This model,..a useful way of thinking about the relation of character to narrative structure..is a very un-Jamesian way.
1934Webster, *Un-Japanese. 1974Country Life 28 Mar. 716/1 The more convincing the make-up, the more disconcerting are un-Japanese physiques.
1962Economist 15 Sept. 990/2 A majority of the *unjingoistic people in the country. 1978Cadogan & Craig Women & Children First viii. 185 An honest picture of the practical, unjingoistic attitudes which characterized most RAF personnel.
1894Law Notes XIII. 227/1 These remarks are uncalled for and very ‘*unjudgely’.
1966A. E. Lindop I start Counting iv. 67 Grandad was on edge until he'd settled his mice... Aunt Lucy had been a bit *un⁓keen to have them. 1971Daily Express 7 Dec. 1/5 Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Mrs. Golda Meir do make one feel tremendously unkeen on Women's Lib. 1983Barr & York Official Sloane Ranger Diary 4/2 The Keen have to put up with the Unkeen.
1924G. B. Stern Tents of Israel i. 20 For nearly fourteen years she must have been..cooking for them *unkosher food. 1965Guardian 4 Aug. 6/4 The Israeli Embassy..had almost been faced with an Israeli parliamentary inquiry into its allegedly sinful un-kosher way of life.
1762H. Walpole Let. to Lady Hervey 1 Oct., You are one of those *un-Lacedæmonian mothers.
1939S. Spender Still Centre 97 In you The Caesars tamed by dying, fired again Their lives in the *unlegendary sky.
1854Geo. Eliot tr. Feuerbach's Essence Christianity xxii. 215 God sees..all locality in an *unlocal manner. 1977Unlocal [see uncentral a.].
1855Pusey Doctr. Real Presence i. (1869) 101 An *un-Lutheran tone of teaching.
1880S. Lanier Poems (1884) 110 Bring large Lucretius, with *unmaniac mind.
1876Trollope Prime Minister III. iv. 65 That coarse *un-marital and yet marital roughness.
1956M. McCarthy Sights & Spectacles p. xii, The notion that abstract reasoning can crush a fact.., a wholly *un-Marxist notion, was nonetheless the principle on which most of our criticism was practiced.
1966Punch 13 Apr. 524/2 His exquisite black-and-white short Shorts.., with its touching yet *unmawkish dwelling upon the hemline.
1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) I. 159 That self-criminative consciousness..which distinguishes it from *unmendacious falsehood.
1852Meanderings Mem. I. 15 A thing *unmental, mannerless and crude.
1966Guardian 10 Oct. 16/8 The present pattern is in many ways strikingly *unmeritocratic.
1849E. W. Benson in Life (1899) I. iv. 80 The *unmilitant part of the Church.
1839J. Sterling Ess., etc. (1848) I. 310 Compare..a missionary Swartz with an *un-missionary Lord Clive or Hyder Ali.
1847Ld. Cockburn Jrnl. (1874) II. 172 A mendicant peer is very *unmonarchical.
1874Hazlitt Mary & C. Lamb 15 The sentence seemed *un-motto-ish.
a1851Moir Poems (1852) II. 130 Before her stood the household wheel *unmurmurous, and the thread Still in her fingers lay.
1861[Mrs. Penny] Romance Dull Life xl. 295 An *unnervous nature, blessed with social effrontery.
1938D. Jones Let. 15 Feb. in R. Hague Dai Greatcoat (1980) ii. 85 The only time of day when I feel more or less *un-neurotic..is after dinner. 1980S. Brett Dead Side of Mike x. 113 A very balanced and unneurotic personality.
1818J. Brown Psyche 137 In honesty, the *unnew notion Of giving Psyche loco-motion, Is traceable to merry Prior.
1880Freeman in Contemp. Rev. June 971 The present *unnormal state of Thessaly, and..the causes which made it unnormal.
1887Saintsbury Hist. Elizab. Lit. (1894) 366 His stepmother appears to have been most *unnovercal.
1850S. Dobell Roman vii, The *unoblivious sun hath paused not once; Our time is far spent.
a1861Clough Poems, etc. (1869) I. 333 Have we anything that will..be as bright and *un-obsolete a hundred and fifty years hence?
1856Bagehot in National Rev. Oct. 365 If Miss Westbrook had married..a gentleman, suppose, in the tallow line..her society would have been a gentle relief from *unodoriferous pursuits. 1862Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. (1864) III. xxiv. 461 Honey Fair used to be an unsightly and unodoriferous place.
1823R. H. Froude Let. 12 Aug. in G. Battiscombe John Keble (1963) iv. 75 Keble..is neither positive on this subject nor *un-open to conviction on any. 1981‘A. Cross’ Death in Faculty v. 47 The few older men..were so stuffy, so unopen to any views but their own.
1885Pall Mall G. 30 June 5/2 The popular, terse, and *unornate style.
1916J. Buchan Greenmantle iii. 30 He got a brussels-sprout in the eye, at which..he swore in a very *unpacifist style. 1976S. Hynes Auden Generation vii. 195 The book is pacificist propaganda.., but the position he takes is an oddly belligerent and un-pacifist one.
1826G. S. Faber Diffic. Romanism (1853) p. lxii, An *unpaginal reference to a pamphlet which he had published.
1860Poynting Glimpses Heaven Introd. p. xxi, The conception of God here presented is intensely *unpantheistic.
1844J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. xix, Added to all these *unpapaverous influences.
1854Ferrier Inst. Metaph. 444 A clear, detached,..genuine, or *un⁓parasitical Being.
1868Dickens Lett. 23 Jan., A clever, *unparsonic, and straightforward man.
1876Bernstein Five Senses 282 Noise is produced by irregular, *un⁓periodical movements of those bodies which convey sound.
1871Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue 385 It would be *un⁓philological to let them be absorbed into any class of words whatever.
1965W. S. Allen Vox Latina i. 15 Such a complication..is ‘*unphonemic’. 1974D. G. Scragg Hist. Eng. Spelling iv. 61 Mulcaster..was frequently forced to compromise his endeavour to be guided by sound because what he calls custom favoured a flagrantly unphonemic spelling.
1959News Chron. 19 Aug. 4/3 ‘I'm no intellectual,’ he says with *unphoney modesty. 1973Publishers Weekly 26 Mar. 61/3 Individually these British lads (and lass) are enjoyably unphony. 1982Listener 11 Feb. 27/3 Let our final words honour the exceptionally unphoney—the first performance of Edward Cowie's..Concerto for orchestra.
1934C. Lambert Music Ho! iv. 244 The present vogue for mechanical realism..is bound to disappear..as the Turneresque steam engine gives way to the *unphotogenic electric train. 1977R. Lacey Majesty 14 She is actually quite small..and..really rather unphotogenic.
1749J. Cleland Mem. Woman Pleasure II. 219 Our acquaintance..innocent, at first..changed nature, and ran into *unplatonic lengths. 1866J. S. Mill in Edin. Rev. CXXIII. 340 The answer of the Xenophontic Sokrates to the question of Hippias is very un-Platonic. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. p. xxi, Respecting the un-Platonic character of the Laws.
1882Morris in Mackail Life (1899) II. 74 The surroundings of life are so stern and *unplayful.
1934Webster, *Unpolemical. 1936Mind XLV. 397 Philosophy, according to Jaspers, is ‘un⁓polemical’. 1965Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1079/2 There is evidence of good, unpolemical work being done.
1936‘M. Innes’ Death at President's Lodging ix. 164 Appleby had brought out his notebook—not without a certain diffidence over the remains of the Dean's elegant and *un⁓policemanly luncheon. 1980P. G. Winslow Counsellor Heart xi. 148 Manning..sitting quietly at his desk, might have been an accountant. For once his unpolicemanly appearance did not amuse Capricorn.
1865Mill Comte 80 Political economy..he deems unscientific, *unpositive, and a mere branch of metaphysics. 1868H. Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. 17 She is a person too unpositive..to be affirmatively capable of anything.
1968‘D. Halliday’ Photogenic Soprano xiv. 160 All the sordid and *un⁓prestigious details of your warm friendship with Kenneth. 1980Word 1979 XXX. 197 Speakers of unprestigious urban dialects were sharply disadvantaged in education and employment.
1933H. Walpole Vanessa iii. 484 She learnt now to be patient, tolerant and *unpriggish. 1969J. Clarke Foxon's Hole xxii. 133 Roger really was feeling rebellious, and Gawaine..found it much easier to tell this new, unpriggish Roger..about Mick.
1871Sat. Rev. 4 Feb. 137/1 Prim English matrons, and Yankee girls of a very *unprim type indeed.
1974P. Gzowski Bk. about this Country 190 I'd..have to become what I call an *unprivate person in relation to social issues.
1882Athenæum 11 Nov. 631/3 A family hitherto remarkable for its *unproliferous nature.
1931*Un-Proustian [see un-Jamesian above]. 1981Times 2 Mar. 6/2 Scott Moncrieff's unProustian style.
1934Webster, *Unpugnacious. 1962Auden Dyer's Hand (1963) 305 As creatures go, he [sc. the ant-eater] is unpugnacious. 1981Daily Tel. 18 July 28/3 He fought an uncomplicated, unpugnacious and honest campaign.
1968Earth & Planetary Sci. Lett. V. 220/1 Hamilton invoked the melting of Lewisian rocks to account for the *unradiogenic leads in the Skye acid rocks.
1858H. Bushnell Nat. & Supernatural iii. (1864) 66 The immense array of mythologic and formally *unrational religions.
1864Grosart Lambs all Safe (1865) 83 Wishing to be as brief, and..*unrepetitive as possible.
1949St. J. Ervine Craigavon ii. lxvi. 296 Whose *unresilient and unimaginative mind. 1963Times 17 May 7/2 (Advt.), They took an ordinary piece of hard, unresilient plastic and ‘let the air in’. 1976Gramophone Mar. 1499/1 The music is steam⁓rollered into a kind of impersonal uniformity, its lines unphrased, its rhythms unresilient, and the subtle interaction of words and notes quite lost.
1881H. James Portr. Lady lv, Whose footfall, on the *unresonant turf,..she had not heard.
1858H. Bushnell New Life (1860) 229 The respectable sin..shades into the *unrespectable.
1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. ii. xlii. 121 The criticisms of a very *unreticent press.
Ibid. III. iv. lxxx. 55 Religion apart, they are an *unreverential people. I do not mean irreverent.
1974Moore & Parry Twentieth-Cent. Russ. Lit. ii. 22 His *unrevolutionary deed in surrendering to despair and killing himself.
1909‘Mark Twain’ Is Shakes. Dead? 13 When an *unrisky opportunity offered..and he was feeling good, I showed it to him.
1934Webster, *Unroadworthy. 1955Times 20 Aug. 5/1 The cars hired by correspondents to take them to the frontier were unroadworthy. 1978N. Freeling Night Lords xxxii. 147 Being suddenly told your home is unhygienic and your car unroadworthy.
1864Spencer Illustr. Progr. 437 Out amid the fields, a formal house..strikes us as *unrural.
1919tr. Turgenev's Smoke x. 73 A dandified air utterly *un-Russian. 1976W. Greatorex Crossover 159 She took in the flared tartan trousers... He looked so un-Russian she laughed.
1879C. Geikie Eng. Reform. xxiv. 428 [The Prayer Book] was made more thoroughly *unsacramentarian than it has ever been since.
1886Athenæum 23 Oct. 528/2 The *unsacrificial nature of Buddhist worship.
1835Chamb. Jrnl. 25 July 205 Now how little chance is there of all these being effected *un⁓sanguineously.
1926G. Frankau My Unsentimental Journey xiii. 178 And so away from Denver by this route which seems not so *unscenic. 1978J. Updike Coup (1979) vi. 219 His trip down from the Massif, by the unscenic highway.
1842G. S. Faber Prov. Lett. (1844) II. 119 The cheap penalty of his *unschismatical independence.
1883Athenæum 27 Jan. 128/2 Some of his sculptures are very effective, but *unsculptural.
1791E. Inchbald Simple Story I. ii. 12 Nor upon that event did he think it necessary..to fly the roof of two such *unseductive innocent females as Mrs. Horton and her niece. 1937M. Borden Black Virgin ii. 26 He looked at..her neat unseductive clothes and thanked God she was like that.
1934Webster, *Unselective. 1956Nature 10 Mar. 489/1 Government shooters co-operated in recording results of unselective shooting [of red deer] to make these data available. 1968Punch 24 Jan. 105/2 Flat-rate, unselective welfare was possible when the vast majority of people were earning poor wages and when taxation was relatively light.
1933L. Bloomfield Language x. 158 The situations of the several speakers contain some common features, and..the differences between these situations are irrelevant (*unsemantic). 1968N.Y. Times 21 Feb. 56/1 His barrage of blithely unsemantic bombast sweeps you up in such phraseology as ‘the political hue that blightens the eye’ and the oracular ‘protocol takes precedence over procedure’.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. iii. iii, Marat..is heard to articulate these most *un⁓senatorial ejaculations.
1886H. Tennyson Jack & Bean Stalk 11 Oh! what a cramp'd-up, small, *unsesquipedalian object!
1959News Chron. 25 Aug. 6/6 He thought the most *unsexy things a woman could wear were trousers, boat necklines, and high-heeled shoes. 1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 193, I would get..a kind of hollow pressure at the back of my throat (..not unsexy) which nevertheless I had to lose, and the only way to lose it was to go on coughing.
1936*Un-Shelleyan [see un-Byronic above].
1865Cornh. Mag. Mar. 299 His kindly, unpretentious, but not *unshrewd, talk.
1865D. W. Thompson Odds & Ends iii. 26 In our ordinary *unsilentious services.
1880A. Raleigh Way to the City 266 To be unworldly is to be unsordid, *unslippery, unselfish.
1887E. Johnson Antiqua Mater 251 Your *unslothful love unto the glory of God.
1797Monthly Mag. III. 516 The cause..of unwearied power, and of *unsluggish energy.
1896‘M. Rutherford’ Clara Hopgood iv. 41 His *unsnobbish, deferential behaviour..showed that he understood who they were and that the little house made no difference to him. 1959G. D. Painter Proust I. vii. 100 She was unmusical, non⁓political, and in the social sense unsnobbish.
1821Monthly Mag. LI. 12 The Romans appear to have had a strange propensity to the harsh and *unsonorous letters j and s.
1871Morris in Mackail Life (1899) I. 237 Things pushing up through the clean *unsooty soil.
1934Webster, *Unsorry. 1963J. Fowles Collector ii. 195 I'm not really sorry. But I'm not absolutely unsorry. 1973‘G. Butler’ Coffin for Pandora viii. 163 Alice had departed.., not unsorry, I thought, to get away.
1862T. W. Higginson Army Life (1870) 9 Something so *un-Southern, the camp of a regiment of black slaves.
1846R. Ford Gatherings from Spain xxiii. 330 Some muscular..performer..screams forth his couplets..to the imminent danger of his own trachea, and of all *un-Spanish acoustic organs. 1959H. Thomas Establishment 15 Spain, where for four hundred years any idea..which had not existed in the golden sixteenth century has been automatically frowned upon as ‘Un-Spanish’.
1970T. Hilton Pre-Raphaelites v. 151 Here is a dull day, *unspecial, cold and leaden, and yet a momentous day for those people who are leaving home. 1983Woman's Weekly 8 Jan. 18/1 Anna, feeling very un-special indeed, agreed..that there was no point in looking back.
1808Wilford Sacr. Isles in Asiat. Res. VIII. 247 The first impression, originating from no *un⁓specious reasons.
1926Public Opinion 30 Apr. 433/3 An *unspectacular honesty and a certain literary sobriety..mark this novel. 1977M. V. Brian Ants 11 Most of the species have wide temperate Eurasian distributions and, though unspectacular compared with some tropical types, play an important part in terrestrial ecosystems.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 129 So the seeds..when sown become barren or *unsproutful.
1968R. Marett Through Back Door iv. 37 The bluff, nautical and *unstarchy Chief Press Censor.
1934Webster, *Unsterile. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 29 But still the stones seemed rocked, the unsterile mounds, reimpregnated, exhaled dust's fever; a breath, impure, of earthbound anguish. 1977Lancet 26 Mar. 688/1 Unsterile cystoscopes have been in use for years.
c1873V. Montagu Let. in G. Battiscombe Queen Alexandra (1969) ix. 127 It is very jolly here indeed,..very *unstiff and only a certain amount of etiquette. 1958J. Pope-Hennessy in Lonely Business (1981) iii. 248 They said above all she..was ‘such a darling’—such fun—so unstiff.
1881Dowden in Academy 8 Jan. 21 An *unstrenuous mood of lingering delight.
1929D. H. Lawrence Pansies 117 Space, of course, is alive. That's why it moves about; and that's what makes it eternally spacious and *unstuffy. 1974K. Clark Another Part of Wood vi. 220 To be one of Lady Cunard's regular guests was to have reached somewhere very near the top of unstuffy, new world society.
a1861D. Gray Poet. Wks. (1874) 48 The *unsubvertive temple of the soul!
1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xviii. v, Next evening..Prince of Prussia strikes his tents again; rolls-off in very *unsuccinct condition.
1830Disraeli in Monypenny Life (1910) I. ix. 161 The dry, round, *unsugary fig is a great whetter.
1873R. Broughton Nancy III. 11 He shall see how patient I am! how *unsulky!
1933H. Walpole Vanessa ii. 414 Will's love for [his master] Adam had been..protective, selfless, and also gay, simple, *unsycophantic, man to man. 1964Punch 23 Sept. p. xv, Cockney writers..are refreshingly unsycophantic.
1878H. G. Guinness Approaching End of Age (1881) 129 The Apocalypse..translated into *unsymbolic language.
1909Webster, *Unsymmetric. 1957L. Fox Numerical Solution Two-Point Boundary Probl. iv. 103 In this case we would have to use some unsymmetric formula involving only internal points.
1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 207 Judgment weaker; memory *untenacious.
1935J. Laird Enquiry into Moral Notions 10 In my view the times are propitious for attempting an *untendentious comparison of ethical ideas..with equity and..patience. 1962Times 5 Dec. 17/6 (heading) Untendentious story of the Berlin Wall.
1934Webster, *Untense. 1959Punch 25 Feb. 277/2 To become untense you must relax. 1974Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Nov. 1248/4 A melodrama in a curiously untense key.
1880Goldw. Smith in Atlantic Monthly No. 268. 210 *Untheistic science can take cognizance of nothing but facts.
1961Lancet 2 Sept. 549/1, I..support your editorial..questioning the value of euthanasia... Justification for such *untherapeutic therapy can rest only on a total lack of understanding of the nature..of Man. 1978Sci. Amer. Feb. 50/2 Untherapeutic though many nursing homes are, living conditions in most of them are at least tolerable.
1906Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 6 They sat down in the *unthistly centre of the Ring.
1953Auden in R. Humphries New Poems by Amer. Poets 7 The water-scorpion finds it quite *unticklish.
1858E. W. L. Davies Algiers i. 5 The *untidal character of the sea.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 40 'Tis hoped we may have leave to settle Gods whole Everlastingness, as *untimesom.
1969Fabian & Byrne Groupie xxix. 206 As a group they are something else, but off-stage they're pretty *untogether, and they need someone like me to get them to the top. 1976Untogether [see staggeringly adv.].
1962Harper's Bazaar Aug. 57/3 Basutoland is for the sophisticated traveller seeking the *untouristy. 1979Homes & Gardens June 23/2 Today more visitors bring their cars and instead of making an automatic beeline for London they venture into the most remote and ‘untouristy’ localities.
1934Webster, *Untraditional. 1958Times 16 Dec. 11/1 We await the rest of the season with untraditional excitement. 1971‘E. Ferrars’ Stranger & Afraid xii. 187 The understanding that the university should be one of the new ones and as untraditional as possible.
1815M. Edgeworth Patronage xxviii, The language of fine feeling is absolutely untranslateable, *untransfusible.
1968Guardian 26 Sept. 8/5 A BBC man, worried that Priestley might be too *un⁓trendy for the ‘Wednesday Play’. 1978Times 4 Sept. 13/2 My untrendy and doubtless outdated opinions about the high seriousness of political debate.
1867H. Bushnell Mor. Uses Dark Th. 202 This most *untropical institution we call home.
1811Spencer Poems 65 Love's yet *untruant pinions.
1934Webster, *Unurgent. 1939C. Day Lewis Child of Misfortune ii. iv. 212 There was something intimate yet un-urgent in the touch. 1949New Yorker 18 June 24/2 The mist incorporates the pulse, rapid but unurgent, of a motorboat.
1907H. Rashdall Theory of Good & Evil I. vi. 158 Such an obviously *unutilitarian precept as that which condemns cannibalism. 1955S. Spender Making of Poem i. 16 Architecture..expresses the tension of the aesthetic against the useful. At the other extreme, music is completely unutilitarian.
1824in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1825) 303 Milton,..in a very *un-uxorious spirit, calls a wife—‘A thorn intestine,..A cleaving mischief’.
1858G. H. Lewes Sea-Side Stud. 223 He is, with all his learning, quite as *unveridical as Giulia Grisi.
1859Hamley in Shand Life (1895) I. vi. 127 At present I am a kind of clean and *un⁓verminous lazzarone.
1931Times Lit. Suppl. 7 May 360/3 Courses which are ultimately impolitic though not formally ‘*unviable’. 1964G. Wheeler Mod. Hist. Soviet Central Asia 234 The steady proliferation of independent although economically unviable states. 1982M. Wallace Brit. Govt. Northern Ireland i. 18 The Irish negotiators..had clearly felt that a commission would so reduce the area of Northern Ireland that it would become unviable.
1916L. Strachey Let. 25 Feb. in Virginia Woolf & Lytton Strachey (1956) 56 Oh, it's very, very *unvictorian! 1981F. Inglis Promise of Happiness v. 144 Ideal parents..so un-Victorian but also so excellently authoritative.
1866Blackmore Cradock Nowell xxiv, To tell the plain, *unvinous truth.
1934Webster, *Unviolent. 1963Listener 3 Oct. 522/3 Even his rhetorical phrases..came out with a lack of ferocity which has great charm for people enamoured of unviolent politicians. 1980U. Curtiss Poisoned Orchard x. 100 That tranquil, un-violent setting.
1931V. Woolf Waves 168, I may find something *unvisual beneath [the mind's eye]. 1943H. Read Education through Art 147 This leaves two of our categories un⁓accounted for, the expressionist and the decorative, but a little consideration will show that one of these is a priori excluded from Bullough's apperceptive types, because it is essentially un-visual.
1869Ruskin Q. of Air (1874) 168 The swallow, in that noisy, but modestly upside-down Babel of hers under the eaves, with its *un⁓volcanic slime of mortar.
1668Wilkins Real Char. iii. vii. 341 A person insolutive..is a Bankrupt; *Vnwalkative, is a Cripple.
1889Stevenson Master Ballantrae ix, About the top of it ran considerable bulwarks, which made the ship *unweatherly.
1903Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Aug. 230 To tell the truth, Barrett's calm philosophy irritated her not a little. It was painfully *un-Western. 1981G. MacBeth Kind of Treason xii. 116 The Japanese were traditionally un-Western in their attitude to declarations of war.
1965K. Amis James Bond Dossier ix. 88 These days there are few things more *un-with-it than feeling..the slightest anti-American sentiment. 1977Grimsby Even. Tel. 5 May 8/3 There is only one word for them, a word so passé, fuddy-duddy and un-with-it that one blushes to use it.
1882Macm. Mag. XLVI. 213/1 His method of describing its inhabitants is..*un-Wordsworthian.
1959Economist 23 May 716/2 The importation or maintenance of party ardours..must seem singularly *un-worthwhile. 1974Nature 19 Apr. 715/3 Contributions so speculative as to make such an effort unworthwhile.
1925‘H. H. Richardson’ Way Home iii. v. 281 Emmy with the hard and *unyoung look her face assumed when she spoke of her stepmother. 1972National Observer (U.S.) 27 May 12/1 An unyoung ‘youth’ leader travels about the country urging audiences to ‘kill your parents’.
b. The use of un- with adjs. in -able, beginning in the 14th cent. (see 4 above), soon became common, and gave rise to a large number of formations in the 16th and subsequent centuries. In the modern period the examples become too numerous for illustration; in addition to those entered as main words, those given below will serve as specimens of the freedom with which new formations are created. These are sometimes due to an antithesis of the form ‘not only..but’, as ‘not only unpainted but unpaintable’. The unusual types uncome-at-able (1694–), unget-at-able (1862–) are later in date than the corresponding positive terms; for illustrations of similar forms see (b).
Cotgrave (1611) has unaboardable, unaccompanable, unaccostable, uncorruptable, undisplayable, unendable, unexceedable, unexpressable, unexterminable, etc. Florio (1611) has unaccommodable, uncolourable, uncompassionable, unsuccourable, untrafficable, unwadable, and Hexham (1648) unbesteadable, unbindable, unlabourable. Ash (1775) introduces about twenty-five new forms, as unadmittable, unappropriable, uncreditable, unexhalable, unexterminable. An extreme instance is un-in-one-breath-utterable (B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. v.).
Recent formations include: (a) unactionable, unarrangeable, unbackable, unbilletable, unbiodegradable, unblinkable, unbroadcastable, unbudgeable, unbuggable, unbuildable, uncapturable, uncashable, unclaimable, unclearable, uncollectable, uncondonable, unconfessable, unconfusable, unconsortable, uncontactable, uncopyrightable, uncounterfeitable, uncrackable, undeflectable, undevelopable, undeviable [deviable a.], undiagnosable, undisseverable, undownable, undreamable (also absol.), unexorcizable, unexperienceable, unexploitable, unfak(e)able, unfalsifiable, unfaultable, unfilmable (also absol.), unfulfillable, unidentifiable, unignorable, uninterruptable, unjammable, unkinkable, unkissable (also absol.), unmanœuvrable, unmeltable, unoccupiable, unpatentable, unplaceable, unplumbable, unpoliceable (also absol.), unquantifiable (also absol.), unrecapturable, unregenerable, unrejectable, unreviewable, unruffl(e)able, unsayable (also absol.), unshar(e)able, unshockable, unskiable, unsmoothable, unsplinterable, unsplittable, unsquashable, unstageable, unstat(e)able, unstressable, unswallowable, untappable, untestable, untippable, untransmittable, unverbalizable, unvintageable, unweighable, unwettable, unwipeable, unwithstandable; (b) unputdownable, unswitchoffable, unwearoutable.
(a)
1952Federal Suppl. (U.S.) CVI. 1019/1 All this might still be *unactionable but for the fact that [etc.]. 1980Times 16 Nov. 3/1 The case was dismissed by the High Court in London in preliminary proceedings as ‘un⁓actionable in English law’.
1821Blackw. Mag. X. 525 An *unarrangeable mass of contraries and shades of difference. 1982Book Collector Winter 457 Vivaldi was virtually un⁓arrangeable.
1928Daily Express 2 Aug. 13/1 Zahrat..walked away from three moderate rivals in the Alexandra Handicap. She was..*unbackable, odds of nine to two having to be laid on. 1973Nation Rev. (Melbourne) 24– 30 Aug. 1418/3 Who's Who was literally unbackable on form and treble figure odds ought to have been obtainable.
1831Blackw. Mag. XXX. 105 His picture swam in lustre *unbedimmable by the mist of years.
1940Daily Mirror 17 Dec. 2/2 My wife was asked to give temporary lodging to some young girls who were described by the authorities as *unbilletable.
1977Water SA (S. Afr.) Jan. 18/1 The influent TKN [sc. Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen] is split into three fractions (i) an *unbiodegradable fraction [etc.]. 1978D. Bloodworth Crosstalk xxxi. 239 An imitation crocodile handbag in some unbiodegradable plastic.
1936Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Oct. 884/4 A stark *unblinkable picture of life as it is being lived somewhere to-day. 1966Guardian 28 Dec. 7/2 There is, finally, the unblinkable fact that the [U.S.] Cabinet is weary.
1834Tait's Mag. I. 439/2 The mighty treasures laid up unbonded and *un⁓bondable within the teeming womb of Nature.
1975Listener 6 Feb. 163/1 The interview was quite *unbroadcastable, due..to the Venerable brother's imperfect English.
1936L. C. Douglas White Banners iv. 73 ‘Now that's where you're wrong, Marcia.’ Paul was kind, but *unbudgeable. 1981Time 7 Dec. 74/2 It is an almost un⁓budgeable popular belief..that cats and dogs have an instinctive rivalry.
1979R. Cassilis Arrow of God ii. vi. 33 The Service's beautiful new, and allegedly *unbuggable headquarters.
1956R. A. Heinlein Door into Summer v. 82 Take the great Leonardo da Vinci, so far out of his time that his most brilliant concepts were utterly *un⁓buildable.
1887Pall Mall G. 15 Oct. 4/1 Land in London is almost *unbuyable.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick II. xxxix. 274 The only spout in sight was that of a Fin-Back, belonging to the species of *uncapturable whales, because of its incredible power of swimming. 1925Glasgow Herald 7 Feb. 4 In the translation something elusive and..un⁓capturable has vanished.
1832Chalmers Pol. Econ. vi. 206 Food, speaking generally, is far more bulky and *uncarriageable than workmanship.
1906‘Mark Twain’ Autobiogr. (1924) II. 288, I don't know what Dick got, but it was probably only *un-cashable promises. 1978Daily Tel. 28 Oct. 1/4 The {pstlg}100,000 cheque handed to Korchnoi as defeated finalist in the World Chess Championship is uncashable until he signs a declaration that he has lost the title.
1884Sat. Rev. 29 Nov. 16 They [groups of boroughs] are almost *uncaucusable.
1866Ruskin Crown Wild Olive (1873) 60 They are as the *uncharmable serpent.
1881R. G. White England 363 A dismal, cheerless, *uncheerable dankness.
1817W. Kitchiner Apicius Rediv. (1822) 77 Till they are trapped to buy some *unchewable old poultry.
1884W. James in unitarian Rev. XXII. 205 Whether the world be the better or the worse for having either chances or gifts in it will depend altogether on what these uncertain and *unclaimable things turn out to be.
1955Bull. Atomic Sci. Apr. 146/3 Most unfortunate is the cleared scientist who marries into an *unclearable family. 1984Sunday Express Mag. 26 Feb. 28/1 The RE major..has abandoned whole fields and beaches as ‘unclearable’.
1884Punch 30 Aug. 101/1 He is such an obstinately *uncoaxable man.
1927Glasgow Herald 18 July 10 They had huge outstanding accounts up country, which were *uncollectable. 1981Sunday Tel. 26 July 19/6 Some {pstlg}12 million that is now officially designated as ‘almost uncollectable’.
1861Van Evrie Negroes 100 The negress..with her short, stiff, *uncombable fleece of seeming wool.
1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) III. 564 An uncompleted and perhaps *uncompletable sentence.
Ibid. V. 290 A suit..carried on upon unpremeditatable, *unconcertable, cross-examined evidence.
1935W. de la Mare Early One Morning 136 Hatred of elderly and yet not wholly *uncondonable cant.
1919C. B. Jordan tr. Ibañez's Four Horsemen of Apoc. i. v. 143 The infallible remedy for the most *unconfessable of diseases. 1967P. White in Coast to Coast 1965–6 232 He lied smiling, ashamed..of his..unconfessable experience.
1840Alison Hist. Eur. (1859) VIII. 670 *Unconfrontable excitement among the people.
1934Webster, *unconfusable. 1935W. de la Mare Early One Morning 533 Each is in accord with its writer's after-work and unconfusable with the work of any other poet.
1873Contemp. Rev. XXII. 835 The desperate determination to conserve the *unconservable.
1907Joyce Chamber Music xxi, He who hath glory lost, nor hath Found any soul to follow his... That high *unconsortable one.
1976Daily Tel. 26 Oct. 1/6 The 3,500-ton Swiftsure class hunter-killer vessel is said to be ‘*uncontactable’ beneath the Arctic ice-pack at the North Pole.
1865D. W. Thompson Odds & Ends iii. 5 We are *uncontentable hangerels.
1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 114 The grounding of the adventurer in this description of *unconveyable knowledge.
1884Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 774 These volatile oils, when heated,..are *uncookable.
1926Whiteman & McBride Jazz viii. 178 The earliest jazz was found *uncopyrightable by certain judges. 1982Amer. Speech LVII. 308 It seems possible that other dictionary makers may well have adopted this simple method of protecting their essentially uncopyrightable labors.
1912E. Pound in Poetry Rev. Feb. 73 A man's rhythm must be interpretative, it will be, therefore, in the end, his own, uncounterfeiting, *uncounterfeitable. 1932Blue Book Mag. Sept. 12/1 He owned that uncounterfeitable trait which goes with what we call good birth.
1959‘B. Mather’ Achilles Affair i. ii. 21 The code we were using was as near to *uncrackable as any code can be.
1875Helps Soc. Pressure ii. 24 It is almost *undealable with.
1954W. Faulkner Fable 263 The forsaken..betrothed pursuing,..*undeflectable.
a1866J. Grote Moral Ideals (1876) xv. 371 The other kind of knowledge lies at the base.., insoluble and *undevelopable. 1878Abney Photogr. xxxiv. 274 The image becomes undevelopable.
1929S. Leslie Anglo-Catholic xiv. 199 This continuity stretching back beyond modern history, undeviating and *un⁓deviable. 1951W. Faulkner Requiem for Nun ii. 210 Who am I..to set the puny appanage of my office in the balance against that simple undeviable aim?
1926Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 20 Nov. 1721/2 Some intangible,..*undiagnosable sinus disease. 1978R. Bannister Brain's Clinical Neurol. (ed. 5) p. iii, Disorders either undiagnosable or untreatable or both.
1811L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. 364 By the natural and *undiscardable stratagem of her nature.
1834Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 419 Sheer, downright,..and *undislodgeable obstinacy.
1897H. James Spoils of Poynton xiii. 152 Mona was *undisseverable from her prey.
1884Goldw. Smith in Contemp. Rev. Apr. 527 The ruler is an *undomicilable alien.
1957Sci. Amer. Apr. 50/2 The *undownable question remained: Why were tau and theta [particles] exactly alike in every respect except this one? 1978J. Updike Coup (1979) vi. 224 His motionlessness a mask for his suffocating struggle with the resurging, undownable fact of Sheba's absence.
1864F. W. Robinson Mattie I. 141 The driest, hardest, and most *undrawable of cigars.
1906W. de la Mare Poems 81 In its future loomed the *undreamable. 1957L. MacNeice Visitations 53 When the undreamable Dream comes clearer.
1884E. Abbott Flatland 86 Remaining henceforth thy docile pupil, thy *unemancipable slave.
1876M. Collins From Midn. to Midn. II. ii. 250, I have had..the most labyrinthine and *unentangleable nightmares.
1922Blackw. Mag. June 800/2 Because of those *unexorcisable..Oriental ancestors of his, nothing will ever bring him to regard the game [sc. golf]..with the laconic reverence that a Scotsman..expects.
1879H. W. Warren Recr. Astron. xii. 261 But nature sustained by *unexpendable forces must abide.
1909W. James Meaning of Truth p. xii, Things of an *unexperienceable nature may exist ad libitum, but they form no part of the material for philosophic debate. 1976Word 1971 XXVII. 130 If grammar is ‘autonomous and independent of meaning’, then it is unexperienceable in the surface structure of sentences—therefore unlearnable, and therefore innate.
1923Blackw. Mag. Sept. 398/1 A rich spring of natural oil, as yet unexploited, and perhaps, on account of the climate and neighbours, forever *unexploitable. 1978A. Gilchrist Cod Wars vi. 42 Such resources were largely hidden or disregarded or unexploitable until modern techniques could be applied.
1831J. Wilson Unimore i. 85 Th' *uneyeable sun flames up the heavens.
1955P. Larkin Less Deceived 41 You cannot always keep That *unfakable young surface. 1977H. Osborne White Poppy xxii. 160 That loud wah-wah voice that..was the unfakeable mark of an English gentleman.
1934Webster, *Unfalsifiable. 1963Guardian 25 Jan. 7/6 Any..existential statement which is unrestricted in scope and therefore unfalsifiable. 1977P. Johnson Enemies of Society xi. 153 The proposition was left sufficiently vague to allow for it to be updated..in the light of scientific advances; it is thus a classic example of an unverifiable, or unfalsifiable, statement, and as such scientifically useless.
1668Wilkins Real Char. iii. vii. 341 A person insolutive,..Unwalkative,..Non-surrective,..*Unfattable.
1965Punch 21 Apr. 572/3 They plump for a return to this hotel, reminding each other of its *unfaultable charms.
1928Sunday Express 29 Apr. 4 ‘Piccadilly’, Arnold Bennett's original story.., is said to be not wholly disconnected with his novel ‘The Pretty Lady’, the great unfilmed (and *un⁓filmable). 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Aug. p. xxviii/4 Film studio executives sat up and took notice of the work of writers whom they had previously dismissed as un⁓filmable. 1963E. Humphreys Gift ii. iv. 238 It didn't matter how unfilmable the book might be, other producers were after it. 1983Listener 6 Jan. 28/1 Le Carré is on record as saying that it is unfilmable.
1884J. Payn Lit. Recol. 14 Vivian had reached the rather *unfloggable age of seventeen.
1934Webster, *Unfulfillable. 1968Punch 4 Sept. 337/1, I ended up spending the night with my friend.., after signing numerous, apparently unfulfillable bonds and promises for the Customs officer. 1982H. Kissinger Years of Upheaval vi. 197 A demand as seemingly reasonable as it was un⁓fulfillable.
a1860J. Younger Autobiog. (1881) 206 This became an *ungratifiable passion.
1835T. B. Thorpe in Griswold Prose Writers Amer. (1851) 549/2 That bar [= bear] was an *unhuntable bar, and died when his time come.
1909Webster, *Unidentifiable. 1923M. Sadleir Desolate Splendour ix. 142 The small girl, in charge of her young uncle and the unidentifiable Margery, gambolled..across an uneven field. 1971S. Hill Strange Meeting iii. 179 The hammering noise went on, only slightly muffled and then another, unidentifiable sound, though the voices had ceased.
1955P. Larkin Less Deceived 26 A tense, musty, *unignorable silence. 1981London Rev. Bks. 18 June–1 July 7 The speed, wit and range of the book make it unignorable and exhilarating.
1875Poste Gaius (ed. 2) i. Introd. 14 That is involuntary (*unimputable) which is caused by external compulsion or by ignorance.
1880R. G. White Every-Day Eng. 143 The peculiar indescribable and *unindicable French sound.
1843Lane Select. fr. Kúran Introd. 13 A vast desert to all but Arabs *unindwellable.
1977Sociology XI. 99 We would observe the syntactical momentum employed for an *uninterruptable delivery.
1959Economist 11 Apr. 140/2 The [Soviet] government fears that this information has already become *unjammable. 1963Daily Tel. 4 Mar. 1/7 Typhon is designed to knock down aircraft and winged missiles by homing on them with its ‘unjammable’ radar.
1813Lady Lyttelton Corr. (1912) vii. 174 Men and women always in two distant and *unjoinable squadrons at the end of the room.
1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) II. 176 The testimony of expatriate and *unjusticiable witnesses.
1935N. & Q. 4 May 314/1 *Unkinkable. A new cable-trade term, applied to a fresh and useful flexible electric cord, which is guaranteed not to ravel or ruck up when in use. 1977Offshore Engineer May 16/2 (Advt.), The right rope for the job... H and T Multiplait is:..unkinkable.
1936G. B. Shaw Simpleton ii. 63 His poor little secret vice of cigaret smoking?.. Faugh! The *unkissable... The air poisoner.
1847Burton Ld. Lovat iii. 72 That *unlearnable self-estimate which insensibly exacts obedience.
1831Blackw. Mag. XXX. 507 The Reformers owe us an *unliquidateable debt of gratitude.
1962M. Drabble Summer Bird-Cage vi. 99, I was standing stock still and quite *unmanoeuvrable.
1940W. Faulkner Hamlet ii. ii. 141 He brought a gross with him in the suitcase, specially made up for him outen asbestos, with *unmeltable snaps.
1810Bentham Packing (1821) 137 To persevere in defeating the express words as well as *unmisconceivable intention, of a law.
1831― Corr. Wks. 1843 XI. 70 My advice to jurymen is plain and *unmisunderstandable.
1885R. Bridges Nero i. iv. iii. 1933 Out of thy cold *unmotionable ashes.
1829S. Martin in J. Duns Mem. iii. 36 He complains of being..*unmouldable..and difficult to impress.
1922Joyce Ulysses 697 A thatched.. 2 storey dwellinghouse..with agreeable prospect..over unoccupied and *unoccupyable interjacent pastures.
1854U.S. Reports (U.S. Supreme Court) LVI. 132 If the inventor of printing had..claimed his art as something distinct from his machinery, the doctrine now advanced, would have declared it *unpatentable to its full extent as an art. 1980TWA Ambassador Oct. 21/3 Left unpatentable are elements of nature—a newly discovered wildflower, for instance—and laws of nature such as philosophical theories and mathematical principles.
1805Saunders Min. Waters 493 A dry *unperspirable state of the skin.
1935Sun (Baltimore) 10 Jan. 22/4 The increase in the number of *unplaceable children taken under care. 1940Dylan Thomas Portrait of Artist as Young Dog 117 We stood in the scooped, windy room of the arch, listening to the noises from the muffled town,..unplaceable sounds,..an engine coughing like a sheep on a hill. 1972Human World Feb. 21 The absence of unplaceable graduates in Britain and the U.S.A. was one of the chief causes of the relative immunity of these countries to Marxism. 1984New Yorker 9 Apr. 39/2 The music was unplaceable. It must have been a Russian idea of American pop.
1921H. Williamson Beautiful Years 118 The man certainly was queer: he no longer thought as he had at first, that there was anything deep in his nature. Either that, or it was so deep as to be *unplumbable. 1929S. Leslie Anglo-Catholic x. 122 The pitiless unplumbable spaces filled him with terrors. 1980D. Moraes Mrs Gandhi viii. 116 While she usually answers complex and difficult questions fluently, perfectly innocuous queries seem to drive her back into unplumbable depths of silence.
1971Nature 3 Sept. 2/2 This device let the Vienna agency escape from the invidious position of policing the *unpoliceable into which it has been jockeyed. 1981Times 25 July 5/1 Protests in other centres would render the rest of New Zealand unpoliceable.
1888S. Lane-Poole Stratford de Redcliffe I. 365 Some described him as ‘the most *unpumpable of men’. 1838Tupper Proverb. Philos. (1852) 415 Life is a constant force, spirit an unquietable impetus.
1890A. C. Fraser Locke 147 The idea of the *unquantifiable is ‘suggested’ by the positive ideas of spaces and times which we have had in our sense experience. Ibid., We are as remote from the unquantifiable infinite..as we were at the beginning of the process. 1979Financial Times 2 Apr. 27/4 Job security is more generally regarded as unquantifiable.
1870R. Broughton Red as Rose (1878) 127 Most energetic, most *unrebuffable.
1925T. Dreiser Amer. Tragedy I. ii. xxii. 307 So wild and *unrecapturable is the fever of youth. 1964W. McCord in I. L. Horowitz New Sociology 428 We must eschew..the romanticism which longs for the virtues of an unrecapturable past.
1883Harper's Mag. Feb. 347/2 [There are] such a variety of..legends that they are quite *unrecountable.
1930Times Lit. Suppl. 30 Oct. 884/3 The *unregenerate and unregenerable realm of life. 1982Observer 17 Jan. 31/9 It is typical of my unregenerable soul that I can only see this as a marvellous theme for a novel.
1851W. H. Goold in Owen's Wks. IX. 461 note, The *unreiterable sacraments, to which ordination..belongs.
1934Webster, *Unrejectable. 1963M. Drabble Summer Bird-Cage viii. 127, I felt rather guilty.., as if I had been reading a diary instead of simply receiving unrejectable impressions.
1884Century Mag. XXIX. 81 An *un⁓restrictable commercial access to the markets and work⁓shops of Europe.
1934Webster, *Unreviewable. 1955Bull. Atomic Sci. Apr. 129/3 With so much unreviewable power in the executive there is bound to be doubt whether the company is getting the information which it really needs. 1968Guardian 15 Nov. 6/7, I find Mary McCarthy's account of her visit to North Vietnam almost unreviewable.
1884Church Bells 21 June 682/2 The bells of this church have been *unringable for some time.
1862Jrnl. Roy. Dubl. Soc. 347 Rough vascular tissue, which is probably *unrollable spiral fibres.
1960E. W. Swanton West Indies Revisited 226 Worrell, however, is *unruffleable. 1981F. Inglis Promise of Happiness ii. 65, I read them for..the unrufflable, wholly impossible calm of big boys.
1870W. Knight Colloquia Peripatetica p. xii, The thought might penetrate into that shadowy region where language almost breaks down in the effort, as he put it, ‘to say the *unsayable’. 1905E. F. Benson Image in Sand vii. 99 The only things worth saying are just those which are unsayable. 1954R. Jarrell Pictures from Institution iv. 150 Her name was not Rosenbaum on the [gramophone] records but her own real unsayable Russian name. 1979‘J. le Carré’ Smiley's People (1980) iv. 49 Strickland incanted the unsayable: ‘No coat-trailing..No émigrés. No bugger all.’
1861Thoreau Lett. (1865) 205 Excuse these pencil marks, but my inkstand is *unscrewable.
1902W. James Var. Relig. Exper. xx. 499 That *unshareable feeling which each one of us has of the pinch of his individual destiny. 1976Daily Tel. 19 Oct. 2/1 He said the doctor's belief in independence was fostered by the ultimately unshareable responsibility he accepted for his patient.
1928C. Bell Civilization vi. 173 At this time of day a civilized person, male or female, should be *unshockable. 1980First & Scott Olive Schreiner iv. 132 The tenor of the history..was..cool and unshockable.
1950Times 15 Feb. 7/5, I should like to ask Lord Montgomery what he does when the ‘soft’ snow is practically *unskiable. 1978Detroit Free Press 2 Apr. 17d/3 Help came in the form of the snow drought during the 1976–77 ski season that left Western and New England slopes unskiable.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick III. xxvii. 176 ‘Canst thou smooth this seam?’.. ‘Aye, man, it is *unsmoothable.’ 1925‘R. Crompton’ Still—William xi. 207 William watched him, smoothing back his unsmoothable hair.
1924Motor 21 Oct. 623/3 An M.E. rear screen with Triplex *unsplinterable glass. 1962L. S. Sasieni Optical Dispensing xiii. 329 Unsplinterable lenses are provided as protection.
1926–7Army & Navy Stores Catal. 101/3 Shaving brushes..with *unsplittable handles. 1945R. Knox God & Atom i. 13 It might be possible..to resolve the molecule into its component parts, but beyond that lay something smaller yet, completely indivisible; it was christened accordingly ‘the atom’—the unsplittable thing. 1978M. Midgley Beast & Man (1979) x. 214 Language..seems an unmistakable, unsplittable single thing.
1956M. Stewart Wildfire at Midnight ii. 26 He's little and round and quite, quite sorbo... *Unsquashable.
1975Daily Tel. 7 Apr. 9/1 Ghastly statistics about the vast number of totally *unstageable scripts that come pouring through the post on to the desks of successful theatre people. 1981Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Feb. 161/5 The work [sc. a Russian play] is unstageable today.
1881Nature XXIII. 585 To show the hypothesis to be *unstateable. 1955P. Heron Changing Forms of Art p. xiv, Indeed, as with all good art, the whole truth is unstatable. 1963Times Lit. Suppl. 24 May 376/4 This appeal to unstateable personal and inter-personal experience. 1972Language XLVIII. 83 Of course, one can state rules in global grammar that are unstatable as transformations.
1883Pall Mall G. Suppl. 2 June, Unsinkable boats,..*unstaveable life-boats.
a1843Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. (1851) IV. 429 Toads..so tough as to be almost *unstoneable.
1950D. Jones Phoneme 150 Semi⁓vowels, such as j and w, would appear to be essentially *unstressable.
1886Earl Lytton Lett. (1906) II. xxi. 307 Churchill's ‘Tory Democracy’ they find still more *unswallowable. 1968Economist 14 Dec. 21/1 Shifting to the side of their cheeks some unswallowable differences, they agreed to put up common candidates in 1969's general election.
1910Chambers's Jrnl. 10 Sept. 644/1 The secrecy provided by the use of cryptic combinations of meaningless consonants can be equally assured by the various methods used for rendering the electric waves ‘*untappable’. 1979C. McCarry Better Angels ii. ii. 115 ‘I found that a computer out there..knew some things that only our computer was supposed to know.’.. ‘But I thought our equipment was untappable.’
1909Webster, *Un⁓testable. 1964F. Bowers Bibliogr. & Textual Criticism iii. vii. 93 Generalized opinions that are not only untested..but are also (usually) untestable.
1850H. Bushnell God in Christ 311 We must bring this astounding *untheorizable fact into theory.
1950O. Nash Family Reunion (1951) 102 Where hotels and restaurants and service stations are operated by *untippable unoffendable machinery. 1968Listener 27 June 851/1 Even in Europe—where tipping started—there are such things as untippable taxis, though one has perhaps to go to Helsinki to find them.
1877E. G. Squier Peru (1878) 348 Some of these [causeways] are now so ruined as to be *untransitable.
1978Broadcast 28 Aug. 19/2 This commercial..took place in almost undecipherably muddy twilight. They can't really mean that, I thought.. it looks *un⁓transmittable.
1833Blackw. Mag. XXXIII. 125 The *untroubleable regions of the skies.
1834Tait's Mag. I. 39/2 Those..vehicles, that once rolled in slow and *unupsettable solemnity along.
1953J. S. Wilkie Sci. Mind & Brain iv. 41 Some things are virtually *unverbalizable: is it at all credible that one could verbalize the face of a friend? 1978Language LIV. 268 A variant of this position holds that experience, to be authentic, must be unverbalizable (‘the idea, once expressed, is a lie’).
1877O. Wilde in Irish Monthly Dec. 746, I stood by the *unvintageable sea. 1915Unvintageable [see polyphloisbic a.].
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 46/1 These slabs must be *unwarpable.
1886American XII. 164 Railroad property..spread over an unmanageable and *unwatchable area.
1845O. A. Brownson Wks. 188. V. 358 A firm, unwavering and *unwaverable conviction.
1909Webster, *Unweighable. 1938R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) xi. 132 A parent substance present in unweighable quantities. 1971Nature 23 July 260/2 By trapping the effluent from gas chromatographic columns we have obtained unweighable samples (
1955New Biol. XVIII. 112 Flowers, if floating, must be more or less cup-shaped, and even if lifted above the water surface must, like the leaves, be *unwettable. 1977J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants ii. 46 When light unwettable seed lands on water, it tends to become concentrated at the edges of the water.
1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 103 Thus they become..worn..into such *unwhetstonable bluntness.
1912G. B. Shaw Let. 10 Dec. in B. Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 68 There would be some terrible breach of etiquette some *unwipable-out insult, if she gave me a card for you. 1971Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 4 June 39/1 This little hole (felt-lined usually, and utterly unwipeable)..which they actually call a glove⁓box. 1981Times 4 July 10/1 Tape costing a quarter of the price of these unwipeable tapes.
1931Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Mar. 196/2 The episodes of Susan's life..and her ruthless imposition of herself upon..her third husband, and upon his Poor Christians as a kind of *unwithstandable Deborah—are told with admirable spirit. 1970R. Price Gt. Roob Revolution 5 The classic rube withstood the unwithstandable winter at Valley Forge.
(b)
c1850‘Dow, Jr.’ in Jerdan Yankee Hum. (1853) 89 Ovid, whose veracity is *uncomoverable, and can't be disputed.
1844J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. xi, *Un-do-without-able, which I think is a much more applicable word than indispensable.
1888G. Grossmith Society Clown iv, A..bottle of ‘*undryupable ink’.
1873M. E. Braddon Str. & Pilgr. i. ix, Miss Disney is really the most *un-get-on-able-with girl.
1840J. T. J. Hewlett P. Priggins i, Weather hot—blow-flies *un-keep-off-able.
1947R. Chandler Let. 5 Jan. in R. Chandler Speaking (1966) 66, I found it absolutely..*unputdownable. 1982Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 May 1466/2 The novel is highly readable and quite unputdownable.
1840De Quincey Style Wks. 1859 XI. 244 Alcibiades..was too unsteady and..‘unrelyable’; or, perhaps, in more correct English, too ‘*unrelyuponable’.
1974Guardian 21 Mar. 10/4 The immediacy which makes TV sometimes..absolutely *un-switch offable. 1984Listener 10 May 38/1 Alfred Brendel's recording of Beethoven's Five Piano Concertos, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine..is unswitchoffable.
1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden I. 407 In the earlier period of Scandinavian history, serpents and dragons were looked upon as *untalkaboutable subjects.
1968Economist 25 May 89/2 The engine..is a neat—and presumably *unwearoutable—air-cooled flat-four unit in the back of the car. 1979Field 3 Oct. 942/1 (Advt.), Almost un⁓wearoutable socks.
a1864Hawthorne Dr. Grimshawe xxii. (1891) 301 The record..of a foot stamped down there in guilt and agony, and oozing out with *unwipeupable blood.
c. The use of un- with adjectives in -like is found from at least the close of the 16th cent., when ungentlemanlike appears. Others occur in the following century, as unbodylike, ungodlike, unwarlike. The free use of such forms, however, is characteristic of the 19th cent., and especially of the latter part of it. The following are examples of casual formations.
Recent formations include: unbridegroomlike, unbutlerlike, uncatlike, unpolicemanlike.
1886Pall Mall G. 1 Nov. 13 So contemptible, detestable, and *un-actor-like a proceeding.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 88 Their *unbodylike way of being somewhere.
1830M. O'Brien Jrnl. 15 May (1968) xii. 114 Mary and Fanny exclaimed at this most *unbridegroomlike proceeding. 1845E. Fitzball Maritana ii. i. 18 Your costume is somewhat unbridegroom-like.
1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. I. 74 The hand [of the monkey]..mortifies one: it looks so very *unbrute-like.
1854Grace Greenwood Haps & Mishaps 14 He met my advances in a most gracious and *un-Bumble-like manner.
1841J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk II. 37 He..killed it afterwards in a most *unbutcherlike way.
1924J. Sutherland Circle of Stars iii. 24 His manner was unimpeachable, his tone superlatively correct, but somewhere in his eyes was a most *unbutler-like gleam.
1955Auden Shield of Achilles i. 22 For an *uncatlike Creature who has gone wrong, Five minutes on even the nicest mountain Is awfully long.
1865Visct. Milton & W. B. Cheadle N.-W. Passage by Land viii. (1867) 112 Feeling very dismal and *un-Christmaslike.
1850Marg. Fuller Wom. 19th C. (1862) 190 Gazing up at the clouds in a most *uncitizen-like fashion.
1838J. Grant Sk. Lond. 160 Whose manner..is the most *undeliberative-like that the human mind could fancy.
1856Lever Martins of Cro' M. 249 Suffering a ‘sea change’..as *unearthlike as well may be imagined.
1807in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. XI. 352 Your scandalous and *un-Englishmanlike behaviour.
1823Blackw. Mag. XIV. 563 An excessive dread of being caught in the *unfreeman⁓like sin of blushing.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 451 Her manners were quite as *ungipsy-like as her apparel.
1823in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. 151 The professor thought this conduct extremely rude and *ungoldsmithlike.
1868Lanier Jacquerie i. 24 The pack..took revenge as bloody as a man's, *Unhoundlike, sudden.
1884Century Mag. XXVII. 678 The rows of unhomelike and even *unhouse⁓like dwelling-places.
1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxi, This was said in well-accentuated and most *un-Indian-like English.
1822M. W. Shelley in Mem. (1859) 215 Pardon me that I still write in this incoherent and *unletterlike manner.
1841Thackeray Men & Coats Wks. 1900 XIII. 610 An affair of brocade that has always struck me as absurd and *un-Macbethlike.
1860Tristram Gt. Sahara vi. 93 The strange and most *unmoslem-like ceremony of sacrificing a goat.
1803Edin. Rev. II. 427 And it would have been highly *unneighbour-like to have neglected them.
1978D. Williams Treasure up in Smoke xx. 186 There was a most *un⁓policeman-like implication in the Chief Inspector's tone.
1879Dowden Southey v. 117 Southey had a most *unprophet⁓like craving for the creature comforts of beef and bread.
1851G. H. Kingsley Sp. & Trav. (1900) 452 In a most *unsalmon-like manner.
1846Mrs Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 155 Thrusting his paraphernalia into a drawer, with a most *unsecretary-like blush.
1802E. Parsons Myst. Visit II. 257 The *unsex-like wickedness of Mrs. Hood.
1805Edin. Rev. V. 399 The..*unsquire-like employment of writing, printing and publishing.
1878A. H. Markham Gt. Frozen Sea xvi. 229 Conducting itself in a very erratic and *unstarlike manner.
1880Cassell's Mag. June 440 Another *unsummer-like fashion is asserting itself this year.
1885Gladstone in Morley Life (1905) II. viii. x. 426 It is so *unsundaylike and unrestful.
1825J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 2 So bright wavering and *unsurelike was the haill living world.
1828Lancet 19 Jan. 592 1 The unfeeling, *unsurgeon-like conduct of Mr. Heyderman.
1877S. Cox Salv. Mundi Preface p. x, It is surely an undignified and *unteacherlike procedure.
a1849Poe Poems (1859) 66 *Unthought-like thoughts that are the souls of thought.
1869H. Bushnell Wom. S. i. 13 What could be more *un-university-like?
1855Smedley Occult Sciences 150 Its water..extinguished torches.., but it possessed also the most *unwaterlike power of relighting them.
1797M. Robinson Walsingham III. 41 The *un⁓zephyrlike hand of the angry Lady Fusby forcibly held me.
8. The prefixing of un- to past participles, common in OE. and revived in ME., was subsequently extended until it became the commonest of all uses of the prefix. The following varieties may be distinguished in the usual formations:
a. Simple past pples. in -ed. These form an inexhaustible class, largely represented among the main words, and including many more similar to those in the following list.
A few casual forms are employed by Florio (1611), as uncomparted, unnotted, and various others by Hexham (1648), as unbalsamed, unbedabbled, unblued, uncalumniated, unchested, etc. Ash (1775) carries this type of formation to great lengths, and enters about 800 words which are either not recorded, or are of rare occurrence, in actual use, as unabetted, unaccited, unacquitted, unadjudged, unallured, unamplified, unappraised, etc.
As subdivisions of this type, forms in -ated and -ized may be specially noted on account of their frequency. These are also largely represented in Ash's dictionary, which contains about 150 unused or rare forms in -ated, as unaccumulated, uncamphorated, uncircumstantiated, etc., and a score or so in -ized, as unapostrophized, unaromatized, uncantonized, etc.
On the double meaning of forms like undressed, unhoused, unsheathed, etc., see un-2 8.
Recent formations include: (a) unacclaimed, unaddled, unaffrayed (arch.), unassessed, unattributed, unbeglamoured, unbobbed [bobbed a. b], unbombed, unbothered, unbuffered, unbugged, unbypassed, uncaked, uncatalysed, uncloned, uncluttered, uncobbled, uncoded, uncopyrighted, uncouponed, undeafened, undepicted, undiffused, undisbursed, undistanced, unearmarked, unenhanced, unenthused, uneroded, unexploded, unfaked, unfattened, unfazed, unfilmed, unflustered, unfocus(s)ed, unformatted, unfussed, ungrazed, ungritted, unhipped [hip v.5], unhousetrained, uniced, uninjected, unkeepered, unladdered [ladder v. 2], unlaundered, unlenited, unmonitored, unneutered, unoriented, unpackaged, unpadded, unphotographed, unplanned, unposed, unpowered, unprogrammed, unprovenanced, unrationed, unrattled, unseeded, unshingled [shingled ppl. a.1 3], unsignposted, unslanted, unsliced, unslipped [slipped ppl. a.3], unsourced, unspayed, unsponsored, unstaffed, unstreamed [streamed a. 2], unstructured, unsupercharged, unsurfaced, untagged, untelevised, untenured , unupholstered, unvetted; (b) unacculturated, unactivated, unagglutinated, unallocated, uncalibrated, unchlorinated, undemarcated, unencapsulated, unexhilarated, unfractionated, unintegrated, unmotivated (also absol.), unmyelinated, unpatinated, unrefrigerated, unreplicated, unsegregated, unsublimated, unsyncopated, unvegetated; (c) unactualized, un-Americanized, unanæsthetized, unanatomized, un-Anglicized, unbowdlerized, uncolonized (cf. uncolonize v.), undiphthongized, un-Hellenized, unindustrialized, unlemmatized, unnationalized, unnormalized, unparasitized, unpasteurized, unplasticized, unpoliticized, unpolymerized, unpressurized, unpublicized, unsclerotized, unsocialized, unstabilized, unstandardized (also absol.), unsterilized, ununionized, unvandalized, unverbalized.
(a) general.
1921W. de la Mare Mem. Midget xlvi. 314 That other less professional début which poor Mr. Crimble..had left *unacclaimed.
1899Leeds Mercury Weekly Suppl. 5 Aug. (E.D.D.), We should call money that had been acquired without effort, ‘*unaddled brass’. 1935W. de la Mare Early One Morning xiv. 179 Flattery of the young is so usual that it is remarkable that a child with a ‘fine head’ manages to keep the brains in it un⁓addled.
1935T. S. Eliot Murder in Cathedral i. 20 Archbishop, secure and assured of your fate, *unaffrayed among the shades.
1922Times 15 Nov. 13/6 That *un⁓assessed quantity, the man in the street. 1970Jrnl. General Psychol. LXXXII. 146 Ebbinghaus was faced with a similar problem of unassessed previous experience in learning phenomena.
1972N. Freeling Long Silence ii. 233 He had been to look at a picture... The price was high, and might have been a great deal higher but that it was, as he pointed out, quite *unattributed.
1846Worcester (citing Haslam), *Unbandaged.
1901G. B. Shaw Three Plays for Puritans Pref. p. xxix, A thing compared to which Falstaff's *unbeglamored drinking and drabbing is respectable.
1884Pall Mall G. 15 Jan. 6/2 Who seldom see even an *unbesmutted blade of grass.
1827Pollok Course T. viii. 91 No king, no subject was; unscutcheoned all,..uncoroneted, *unbestarred.
1846Worcester (citing Scott), *Unboasted.
1927Blackw. Mag. Nov. 601/1 By her own account the only *unbobbed head in Hampstead. 1931W. Faulkner in Harper's Mag. Sept. 394/2 The fine, soft cloud of her unbobbed hair gleamed like the chestnut's flank.
1928Beerbohm Variety of Things 128 One likes to think of him there among the *unbombed Lakes. 1980A. Price Hour of Donkey iv. 63 One un⁓bombed veteran to another obviously much-bombed one.
1912W. Deeping Sincerity xxviii. 216 Wolfe..seemed to brush Turrell's arms aside as though they were mere sticks. His crisp, sinewy punches landed serenely. He looked unmarked, *unbothered. 1965J. A. Michener Source (1966) 794 Bagdadi, apparently unbothered by history, pressed on.
1936Nature 7 Nov. 800/1 The native hæmoglobin of the horse, in *unbuffered dilute salt solutions at the isoelectric point.
1966Punch 2 Feb. 169/2 If any Tom, Dick or Harry can meet in a collapsible plastic balloon and chatter away *unbugged, there is no knowing what they will say. We shall be back to the old, bad days of secret diplomacy.
1883Athenæum 11 Aug. 182/3 It is a question..what power of resistance a solid ‘*unburrowed’ soil might have offered.
1962Simpson & Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors xi. 255 A better solution is to leave a portion of the emitter bias resistor *un-by-passed, thereby introducing negative-current feedback.
1954T. Gunn Fighting Terms 44, I..felt my body sweet, *Un⁓caked blood in all its channels flowing.
1939Jrnl. Organic Chem. IV. 434 No *uncatalyzed addition has yet been observed. 1976Nature 24 June 659/1 After the establishment of the kinetic orders of the catalysed and uncatalysed reactions a mechanism consistent with all the results was deduced.
1971Ibid. 2 Apr. 276/1 If single-cell clones of cultured cells are derived from women heterozygous for X-linked genes determining enzyme variants, each clone shows the activity of only one of the two possible genes, whereas *uncloned cultures derived from many cells show both. 1980Jrnl. Immunol. Methods XXXIV. 153 Uncloned and cloned populations.
1925Glasgow Herald 6 Nov. 8 The adjective *uncluttered is an American term of strong commendation when used to describe a wall, a mantelpiece or even a whole room. 1960J. Stroud Shorn Lamb xxii. 239 New modern houses..with their plate-glass and uncluttered lines. 1980Times 29 Feb. 26 (Advt.), Spring-time in Greece. Uncluttered beaches, [etc.].
1922Joyce Ulysses 422 An *uncobbled tramsiding set with skeleton tracks.
1918J. W. Gerard Face to Face with Kaiserism xx. 230 The bags were secretly opened and our *uncoded despatches and letters read. 1971B. Patten Irrelevant Song 24 A bleak and uncoded message whispers Down all the nerves.
1852Mrs. Stowe Let. 27 Sept. in N. Spain Mrs Beeton (1948) i. iv. 51, I do not conceive that I have any claim on an English publisher for any of the profits of an *uncopyrighted work. 1950A. Lomax Mister Jelly Roll 292 He established The Tempo-Music Publishing Company to protect, publish, and push Morton's uncopyrighted and unpublished works.
1846Worcester (citing West. Rev.), *Uncountervailed.
1935Economist 9 Nov. 930/1 They had actually harvested rather more than that quantity, but the balance, being *uncouponed stock, had been carried forward to the current season's account. 1967Punch 13 Sept. 388/1 Unfortunately the police caught him with several bales of uncouponed suit material.
1935W. B. Yeats Dramatis Personae vii. 25 Only at pictures did he look *undeafened and unblinded. 1979New Scientist 17 May 537/2 It also sings normally next season, and goes through the usual subsong and plastic song again in the same way as undeafened birds.
c1884E. Dickinson in Poems (1955) III. 1120 Bugles call the least of us To *un⁓depicted Realms.
1940W. Faulkner Hamlet iii. ii. 212 That perfect marriage of will and ability with a single *undiffused object. 1964Economist 7 Mar. 917/3 Loans still undisbursed.
1893G. Allen Scallywag I. 206 Quite *undiscomposed by this..most startling announcement.
1951W. Faulkner Requiem for Nun iii. 262 There is the clear *undistanced voice as though out of the delicate antenna-skeins of radio.
a1868*Unearmarked [see earmark v. 3]. 1971Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 25 Feb. 709/2 That the Curators of the University Chest be authorized to expend from the unearmarked money in the Higher Studies Fund a sum of {pstlg}10,000.
1878Abney Photogr. 117 The *unemulsified collodion for the wet process.
1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 653/2 Others..discharge their eggs *unenclosed in capsules freely into the sea-water.
1934Webster, *Unenhanced. 1942R. Frost Witness Tree 41 We gave ourselves outright..to the land vaguely realizing westward, but still unstoried, artless, unenhanced.
1963Punch 9 Oct. 516/2 It [sc. industry] is markedly *unenthused about the Tories. 1977M. Kenyon Rapist ix. 109 Keane, unenthused, watched from the door.
1924Brit. Weekly 13 Nov. 147/3, There is no ‘basalt and bronze’ for a Prime Minister like a still *uneroded majority of 210. 1978J. Updike Coup (1979) ii. 48 Its façade is topped with eight marble statues of an unreal whiteness, uneroded in this climate.
1889Cent. Dict., *Unexploded. 1924A. D. Sedgwick Little French Girl ii. i 100 Their mutual secret..that Giles visualized as an unexploded bomb..liable at a touch to..scatter the family happiness to fragments. 1952A. Cohen Phonemes of English 28 We find that..in nipped [the [p] is] unexploded. 1981B. Langley Autumn Tiger ii. 21 Berlin, February 1945{ddd}a sign in red paint which warned ‘Danger! Unexploded Bomb.’
1865Earle Sax. Chron. Introd. p. iv, Their *unfagged memory was richly stored with the events of their own day.
1902Kipling Let. 30 Nov. in C. Carrington Rudyard Kipling (1955) xv. 369 A grey stone lichened house..with old oak staircase, and all untouched and *unfaked. 1968A. Diment Bang Bang Birds vi. 102 One of the Birds, gazing at them with apparently un-faked adoration.
1895Hardy Jude i. viii. 58 Three young *unfattened pigs had escaped from their sty.
1951T. Capote Grass Harp ii. 50 ‘Of course they are nearer God,’ he said, *unfazed by the disapproving, sober faces around him. 1977P. Roth Professor of Desire 55 They were all screaming at one another, but he just walked along, unfazed.
1872W. R. Greg Enigmas of Life vii. 260 Naked truth, *unfilmed eyes, will do all that the most righteous vengeance could desire. 1928Unfilmed [see unfilmable, sense 7 b above].
1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 386 The ‘jerk’ or *unflated aspirate.
1887Pall Mall G. 8 Aug. 12/1 They wanted the line between the *unflogged class..and the flogged masses to remain.
1913H. Walpole Fortitude ii. ii. 165 Beaming, calm, and *unflustered as though he had just come from the next street. 1967T. Stoppard Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead ii. 58 (He turns away. GUIL grabs him and spins him back violently.) (Unflustered.) Now if you're going to be subtle, we'll miss each other in the dark.
1886Hardy Mayor Casterbr. II. xii. 307 His eyes lighting on them with an *unfocused gaze. 1939H. Nicolson Diary 4 Feb. (1966) 390 V. and I go round to the Beales where there is a Television Set... Compared with a film, it is a bleary, flickering,..unfocused, interruptible thing. 1979G. Macdonald Camera xii. 165/1 The greatest portraitist of Victorian England was the unfocussed Julia Margaret Cameron.
1967E. R. Lannon in Cox & Grose Organiz. & Handling Bibliogr. Rec. by Computer iv. 82 The second type of data, sometimes called *unformatted, takes on special meaning due to its surrounding elements. 1982Which Computer? June 30/3 The M20 has..an on-line unformatted data storage capacity of 320 KB.
1873H. A. Wise Seven Decades Union 282 As large a solid piece of it as was left *unfrasseled by the concussions.
1871Noyes Hymns Mod. Man 39 Perfection *unfreckled by flaws.
1907T. Hodgkin Let. 27 Oct. in L. Creighton Life & Lett. T. Hodgkin (1917) xii. 282 When Christ..said that he would have us ἀµέριµνοι he meant almost what we mean by ‘*unfussed’. 1981N. Freeling One Damn Thing after Another xxxii. 236 She phoned home. To hear Arthur's voice, unfussed and matter-of-fact.
1903Kipling Five Nations 155 For the *ungrazed upland, the untilled lea Cry, and the fields forlorn. 1972J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants 450 Within this zone of taller, ungrazed herbage the balance of competitive interactions is changed.
1977Belfast Tel. 19 Jan. 1/2 Environment Department officials were caught napping today by the heavy overnight frost, which left a network of icy Ulster roads *ungritted.
1938Amer. Speech XIII. 314/2 Jump salty, implies an un⁓expected change in a person's..knowledge... An *un⁓hipped person may become hipped. 1944D. Burley Orig. Handbk. Harlem Jive 90, I hunch the pinball layout, Jack, and it's an unhipped tilt.
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 268 *Unholed, boardgates or other headings which are not driven through or thirled into the adjoining roadway.
1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. I. 106 Because some..kitchen-girl has left the cow *unhoppled.
1955Auden Shield of Achilles iii. 66 Where should we be but for them? Feral skill, *un-housetrained. 1967A. Wilson No Laughing Matter iii. 232 He's doing PPE. Whatever that may be. It sounds very un-housetrained.
1864Geo. Eliot Let. 8 Mar. (1956) IV. 138 Iced water is what I always long for..while water *un-iced is detestable to me. 1971‘J. Bell’ Hole in Ground iv. 53 A plate of scones and an uniced cake.
1881Romanes in Nature XXIV. 185 Sources of intermediate or *uninferred knowledge.
1934Webster, *Uninjected. 1946Nature 31 Aug. 311/2 There are two natural folds of skin in cattle at..the root of the tail, and the uninjected fold serves as a control. 1977P. Dickinson Walking Dead i. i. 20 He only injected three pairs of rats in a batch... Nor could he run uninjected rats.
1938J. W. Day Dog in Sport xi. 143 There were partridges, naturally bred, more or less *un⁓keepered. 1977H. Douglas-Home Birdman vi. 71 Keepering established a balance which could not have existed in the earlier predator dominated times. Anyone who doubts this need only take a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, unkeepered country today.
1956‘C. Blackstock’ Dewey Death v. 102 She was..her well-groomed self, with..*unladdered stockings. 1978J. Goodman Last Sentence i. 28 She and Cecil were entered..at the Streatham Locarno..and she had to have unladdered hose for that.
1844A. Mallalieu Buenos Ayres, etc. 62 The untamed *unlassoed steed.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 36/3 Soft or *Unlaundered Waists. 1965T. Capote In Cold Blood ii. 125 Some bits of unlaundered laundry. 1978‘R. Cassilis’ Winding Sheet iii. 199 Politicians..should never be allowed to hear unlaundered secrets. It made them uncomfortable.
1953K. H. Jackson Lang. & Hist. in Early Britain 554 Original *unlenited Brit. b. 1977Word 1972 XXVIII. 99 Three of the 7 semi-speakers showed switching between lenited and un⁓lenited forms of daor ‘expensive’.
1883Pall Mall G. 28 Dec. 5/1 Dr. Schliemann recognized..in the objects of gold the *unlooted ‘treasure of Priam’.
1844Ayrshire Wreath 190 Egbert *unlured by vow or gift Gaid furth withouten fear.
1966R. H. Rimmer Harrad Experiment (1967) 92 Locating my leopard coat under a heap of fur coats in the *unmonitored cloak room. 1976Guardian 23 July 15/6 Now at last it seems that a researcher from Stirling University may begin work, and both staff and inmates see this as a positive development, while regretting that the first years have slipped past largely unmonitored.
1844Friedländer tr. F. Bremer's Neighbours II. 201, I was half fearful after this of expressing my yet *unmooted fears in reference to himself.
1884Pall Mall G. 29 Aug. 2/1 Not only did they receive their rations in full, but also their pay *unmulcted.
1962G. Butler Coffin in Oxford ii. 38 The undying burning hate of one *un-neutered tom for another. 1971Nat. Geographic May 735/2 The Seigneur [of Sark]..exercises the right to keep the Island's only ‘unneutered’ bitch.
1931V. Woolf Waves 205 Here am I marching up and down the terrace alone, *unoriented. 1947[see oriented ppl. a. 2]. 1962U. Weinreich in Householder & Saporta Probl. Lexicogr. 30 Features of a geographic area can be studied even from an unoriented map. 1969W. R. R. Park Plastics Film Technol. ii. 33 Unoriented film is very brittle at below zero temperatures.
1875Rolleston Addr. Dept. Anthrop. Brit. Assoc. 7 The possession of an *unoverwhelmed numerical representation.
1948A. N. Keith Three came Home xi. 199, 100 cigarettes, *unpackaged and unlabelled. 1984Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Feb. 148/1 Here is a manual for the unpackaged, mildly enterprising and tolerably well-heeled holidaymakers.
1923A. Huxley Antic Hay x. 152 The wearing exhaustion to which long-protracted sitting on *unpadded seats subjects them. 1979A. Buck Dress in 18th-C. Eng. ii. 31 The coat was losing its stiffness, and the pleats of its skirts, now unpadded, were set further back.
1884J. G. Bourke Snake Dance Moquis vii. 68 The stones were uncut or *unpecked.
1886Pall Mall G. 9 Dec. 3/2 The unregenerate and, as yet, *unpermeated Tory.
1914G. Bell Let. 21 Jan. (1927) I. xiii. 327 And we came at two o'clock to the last of the castles, Baîr, as yet unplanned and *unphotographed. 1929‘E. Queen’ Roman Hat Mystery v. 86 You are by no means an unphotographed young lady—I saw your picture in the paper to-day. 1981J. Wainwright All on Summer's Day 80 An inspection which (literally) left no square inch unsearched or un⁓photographed.
1909Webster, *Unplanned. 1914[see unphotographed above]. 1942J. S. Huxley in Harper's Mag. Sept. 346/1 The need for entering upon our revolution consciously.., deliberately guiding its course instead of allowing its blind forces to push and buffet our un⁓planned lives. 1959Listener 4 June 981/1 These people are spontaneous in almost all they do. Children are ‘un⁓planned’. 1961‘J. le Carré’ Call for Dead xvii. 186 The obviously unplanned and unproductive selection of files. 1973Times 19 Apr. 19/2 Nearly half of all pregnancies are unplanned. 1981N. Tucker Child & Book i. 45 A shoe..may..house a large and almost certainly unplanned family.
1934Webster, *Unposed. 1960Guardian 13 July 7/2 The best pictures of people are unposed and are taken while they are intent on what they are doing. 1968E. Hyams Mischief Makers i. 12 This unselfconscious, unposed animation was not what I was used to.
1963Times 26 Feb. 9/4 After being boosted to orbital speed, the 45ft. long Dyna-Soar will be capable of manoeuvering freely during reentry into the earth's atmosphere, and then making a horizontal landing. As it will be *unpowered at that stage this will call for particular skill and judgment by the pilot. 1975S. Johnson Urbane Guerilla iii. 108 The canal..plunging..through a half-mile tunnel forbidden to unpowered craft.
1887Q. Rev. Oct. 537 *Unprenticed and ingenuous new voters.
1941W. C. Handy Father of Blues (1957) xiv. 194 Other New York composer-conductors were introduced here and there and asked to play *unprogrammed numbers. 1953Sun (Baltimore) 12 Mar. 2/1 The ‘unprogrammed’ funds referred to come to the Army from several sources. 1959New Biol. XXVIII. 113 In order to keep such a process going in its most elementary form, some prearrangement, in the form of strings of unprogrammed material to be used, has been found necessary. 1974Sci. Amer. May 61/2 When the machine is off or unprogrammed, the knob moves freely in all directions. 1976H. Wilson Governance of Britain iv. 85 Apart from pre-arranged ministerial meetings with documents circulated and written and sometimes oral briefing, each day sees a number of often unprogrammed meetings with ministers.
1967Antiquaries Jrnl. XLVII. 209 Another animal..is the springing canine with collar on an *unprovenanced ?flagon handle also in the British Museum.
1882Garden 14 Jan. 24/2 The chief danger with *unputtied glass is found when fierce wind-storms prevail.
1919A. P. Herbert in Punch 22 Jan. 62/1 The free *unrationed blotting-pad. 1940C. Milburn Diary 10 Mar. (1979) 26 To church..then home for the last unrationed meat dinner. 1982T. FitzGibbon With Love i. v. 31 We would have friends to dinner, and with food rationing becoming stringent, stuff and braise un⁓rationed sheeps' hearts.
1934Webster, *Unrattled. 1953Manch. Guardian Weekly 20 Aug. 7 He was quite unrattled, in good physical shape. 1976J. Colville Footprints in Time xxvii. 144 His second-in-command at the Embassy..was unrattled by the crescendo of disaster to the allied cause.
1864Realm 18 May 5 Formless clothes whose folds, *unretrenched by artifice, follow nature's laws.
1838Penny Cycl. X. 378/1 The sides of their ditches being *unreveted.
1884Gentl. Mag. Feb. 125 He fell at the head of his own *unrevolted regiment.
1879Lanier Poems, To B. Taylor 23 Not [to] drudge *unriched.
1881R. G. White Eng. 371 Sheridan..leaves this trait of speech *unridiculed.
1952N.Y. Times 8 Sept. 27/5 The third-seeded player, Irene Rawcliffe of Nutley High, was eliminated by *unseeded Lynn Anderson of Mount St. Mary's Academy 6–1, 6–1. 1977Washington Post 9 Mar. d4, I think anybody, including the unseeded squads, has a chance to make the final.
1928Daily Express 23 May 8/4 Among the fifty horsewomen only five have *un⁓shingled hair.
1933A. G. Macdonell England, their England xiv. 246 A network of narrow lanes, *unsignposted. 1981M. E. Atkins Palimpsest ii. 12 Breakdowns always occurred in foul weather on unsignposted roads.
1885Warren & Cleverly Wand. Beetle 52 The Gunner saw no fun in leaving stunning things *unsketched.
1964F. Bowers Bibliogr. & Textual Criticism vi. i. 165 With selected though *unslanted evidence, a point should be reached at which our common-sense view of probability rebels at being asked to accept any more coincidence as the result of mere chance. 1974J. Irving 158-Pound Marriage vi. 131 It was an old-fashioned, unslanted, glass windshield.
1889Cent. Dict., *Unsliced. 1968D. E. Allen Brit. Tastes iii. 77 Bread, being..made more by small local bakers, tends to be unwrapped (and..unsliced) more frequently than elsewhere. 1978Times 15 Apr. 3/6 There will be bloomers, cobs,..sliced and unsliced, white and brown loaves on the shelves.
1940R. E. Smith in Maya & Their Neighbors xvi. 243 *Unslipped jars with flaring necks. 1977Sci. Amer. Mar. 130/2 The pots range from rough, unslipped pieces—‘earthenware’ in modern terminology—to thinner-walled pieces with smooth and glossy surfaces.
c1890Fred Wilson's Fate 80 His record out of office [was] not by any means *unsmudged.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick III. xviii. 128 This ante-mosaic, *unsourced existence of the un⁓speakable terrors of the whale. 1977Kuwait Times 1 Nov. 6/3 In an unsourced report from Bucharest, the Egyptian agency also said that a decision whether to reconvene the Geneva conference would be made within the next two weeks.
1939J. R. Kinney How to raise a Dog vi. 144 During their periods the *unspayed bitch is sometimes an aesthetic problem because of the discharge. 1979‘J. Ross’ Rattling of Old Bones ix. 83 The woman..[had] the sexual hunger of an unspayed cat in her eyes.
1930E. Rice Voyage to Purilia i. 7 We wanted to travel quietly and unobtrusively... This could be done only if our voyage was *unsponsored and unheralded. 1979Tuscon (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 2d/1 The Patio Pools team amassed 4,882 pins..against Diamond Life and un⁓sponsored Team No. 4 in the first round of action.
1884Spectator 4 Oct. 1326/1 She has left some wood *un⁓stacked at home.
1934Webster, *Unstaffed. 1957[see remotely adv. 2 b]. 1979V. L. Pandit Scope of Happiness xxxvii. 288 The Embassy remained closed and unstaffed.
1876E. D. Brickwood Boat-Racing 63 Rowing with *unstraightened arms, or slackened muscles.
1962Guardian 30 Mar. 10/4 A large *unstreamed school in which these distinctions have no place. 1981Indexer XII. 152/2 Six unstreamed classes in a local comprehensive school.
1936F. & G. M. Heider tr. Lewin's Princ. Topological Psychol. xii. 134 If one puts a rat into the maze without food, he gets a chance to ‘orient’ himself, which means that what is first an *unstructured field becomes structured. 1948M. Sherif Outl. Soc. Psychol. vii. 181 Psychological principles which are..applicable in the case of the individual facing an unstructured situation. 1965Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1049/3 This was..an anarchically ‘unstructured’ society. 1973Computers & Humanities VII. 171 The current trend in elementary education is in the direction of open, unstructured classrooms. 1977Lancashire Life Mar. 106/2 Spring coats are lean and unstructured, with their line emphasised with braid or other fabric trimming in contrast colour. 1984Guardian 5 Mar. 11/4 Jackets are loose and unstructured.
1888Doughty Arabia Deserta I. 31 The unwilling contribution of the few *unsubmitted Idumean villages.
1863Dicey Federal St. I. 27 Wherever there is a free and *unsubventioned press, you may be sure [etc.].
1830Mackintosh Progr. Eth. Philos. Wks. 1846 I. 128 That Dr. Adam Smith's ethical speculations are not so *unsuggested as they are beautiful.
1929V. W. Pagé Mod. Aviation Engines I. xii. 343 A supercharged plane requires a somewhat larger propeller than an *unsupercharged one. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia VII. 936/1 The loss in power suffered by unsupercharged engines at high altitudes can be largely restored [by supercharging].
1880McCarthy Own Times III. 208 So long as the Bill of 1832 remained *unsupplemented.
1953W. Moore Bring Jubilee (1955) ii. 13 It was impossible to maintain *unsurfaced highways in good condition. 1971D. Potter Brit. Eliz. Stamps vi. 68 A few copies of the 10d on un⁓surfaced paper..were found in 1970.
1788T. Munro, etc. Olla Podrida 25 Of difficulties *unsurmounted.
1909Webster, *Untagged. 1957D. L. Bolinger in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxviii. 112 The evolution of the secondary towards tag-ness has not reached the point of admitting an untagged secondary on the second A of the most conducive intonation. 1967Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. XVI. 440 The basis for this is an assumption that tagged and untagged fish are caught in the same proportions.
1876Stone in Jrnl. R. Geog. Soc. XLVI. 58 The bodies of the men are often *untattooed.
1868Visct. Strangford Select. (1869) II. 104 They would not have let the triumph pass untold and *untelegraphed.
1962Punch 11 Apr. 555/2 Shakespeare, *untelevised and unrecorded, was never asked to take it all back and substitute some more ethical appeal. 1971Guardian 25 Aug. 8/5 ‘Polaris—The Secret World’ (Yorkshire) was wholly untelevised territory.
1969Federal Suppl. (U.S.) 11 Dec. 1053/1 Person, even though *untenured, may not be denied public employment for unconstitutional reason. 1981‘A. Cross’ Death in Faculty v. 49 An untenured professor in search of ‘contacts’.
1883Athenæum 8 Sept. 300/2 Untrodden districts—..*untoured, unspoiled.
1887Spectator 20 Aug. 1111 What is the Channel, so long as it remains *untunnelled.
1919G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House i. 1 A row of books under the window provides an *unupholstered window-seat. 1938S. Beckett Murphy v. 63 Two massive upright unupholstered armchairs.
1843Tizard Brewing 444 New or *unvatted porter.
1871Athenæum 3 June 679 Let them be *unvaunted and unpublished.
1962Guardian 15 Feb. 6/6 Unscripted, *unvetted discussion programmes. 1979T. Wiseman Game of Secrets viii. 100 The company..in certain cases actually prohibited un⁓sanctioned intercourse with unvetted outsiders.
1867Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Aug. 471 In the *unvivified condition it absolutely becomes a poison instead of a vivifier.
(b) ending in -ated.
1969Nature 26 July 419/1 European children, during their first year at school, were like *unacculturated African tribal adults in that many failed to interpret the perspective features of a picture as representing depth.
1956A. Huxley Adonis & Alphabet 156 The problem of what we may politely call ‘*unactivated sludge’.
1950Race & Sanger Blood Groups in Man iii. 34 Such points as..the shaking free of *unagglutinated cells enmeshed in agglutinates are skilfully dealt with. 1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Med. LXXII. 450 An unagglutinated suspension of the recipient's blood.
1869Bradshaw's Railway Man. XXI. 183 Deducting all proper expenses and interest on the *unallocated debt. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1977) III. 953 It looks to me as if he might find himself unallocated and put back into the pool.
1965Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics Fall 45 The whole process is wasteful, much as if one were to work with a number of highly sensitive but quite *uncalibrated scientific instruments.
1974Jrnl. Water Pollution Control XLVI. 2153 (heading) Bacteriology of chlorinated and *unchlorinated wastewater effluents.
1884American VIII. 236 The oddest theory..with which *unconjugated individuals ever comforted themselves.
1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 208 Cotton cake, *undecorticated.
1902G. F. Stout in H. Sturt Personal Idealism i. 42 All demarcated figure presupposes what we may call *undemarcated figure. 1967M. Ayub Khan Friends not Masters x. 161 A similar situation could arise on our own undemarcated borders in the Sinkiang and Baltistan areas.
1886B. Harte Snow-bound 18 The remaining and *undenominated passenger turned to Hale.
1884Spectator No. 2914. 587/1 Mr. Besant's bowdlerised presentment cannot but tempt to the perusal of the *undepurated loot.
1882Pall Mall G. 8 Apr. 3 The universal *undigitated stocking need not fear its rival.
1846Worcester (citing Fleming), *Undisintegrated.
1965Amer. Jrnl. Clin. Path. XLIII. 112/2 The tumor was..usually *unencapsulated and often diffusely infiltrated the adjacent muscle.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick I. xxxiii. 235 He swings himself to the deck and in an even, *unexhilarated voice, saying ‘Dinner, Mr Starbuck,’ disappears into the cabin.
1887Pall Mall G. 5 Nov. 7/1 With *unexpropriated landlords..some sort of arrangement will be come to.
1881Standard 7 Apr. 7/4 There are numerous dead and wounded still *unextricated from the ruins.
1956Nature 18 Feb. 326/2 The *unfractionated polymer..gives crystals which are smaller and more opaque to electrons.
1885Athenæum 12 Dec. 772/3 The medium..is *ungranulated ether.
1889Geddes & Thomson Evol. Sex 78 The liberation of *unindividuated sex elements.
1889Cent. Dict., *Unintegrated. 1920R. R. Marett Psychology & Folk-Lore vi. 121 An un⁓integrated or imperfectly rational type. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1977) III. 484 An absolutely self-perpetuating oligarchy of R.H.B.s completely unintegrated with the community services of the local authorities.
1881Nation (N.Y.) XXXII. 426 A manuscript *unmanipulated by them would be of priceless value.
1922J. Riviere tr. Freud's Introd. Lect. Psycho-Anal. iv. 48 They [sc. acts] also appear to be *unmotivated, insignificant and unimportant. 1947Mind LVI. 353 Witness the familiar sort of situation where someone has met with misfortune from a natural, apparently unmotivated, cause. 1953E. Simon Past Masters i. 18 The house..bleak despite a mass of unmotivated Victorian architectural curlicues. 1964M. Argyle Psychol. & Social Probl. v. 70 A man with an unmotivated tendency to attack perambulators and handbags. 1973Sci. Amer. July 22/3 A fairly simple change yielded a considerable response from a group of patients who had previously been characterized..as ‘unmotivated’ to seek postpartum checkups. 1977P. Strevens New Orientations Teaching of English i. 10 They are unmotivated towards learning English and sometimes even hostile towards doing so. 1978H. R. F. Keating Long Walk to Wimbledon ii. 18 His world was at the mercy of the unmotivated.
1915Brain XXXVIII. 384 The *unmyelinated fibres of spinal nerves are distributed chiefly to the skin. 1980Jrnl. R. Soc. Med. LXXIII. 268 Using the electronmicroscope, Frank..described unmyelinated nerve fibres in the inner third of fully formed human coronal dentine.
1926S. Afr. Jrnl. Sci. XXIII. 785 The Earlier Stone Age implements are heavily patinated, the later are *unpatinated or only slightly so. 1946F. E. Zeuner Dating Past vi. 193 The gravel has yielded..in a fresh, unabraded and unpatinated condition: a middle Levalloisian comparable with that found by Burchell.
1934Webster, *Unrefrigerated. 1964Supermarket & Self-Service (Johannesburg) Feb. 5/2 On the left is a 12 ft. long cabinet with three unrefrigerated shelves. 1968D. E. Allen Brit. Tastes 234 Milk was scarce and the sealed, sterilised variety would stay fresh, though unrefrigerated, for seven days.
1971Nature 25 June 491/3 This fact enabled Hill and Hillova to separate..the newly replicated double helices..from *unreplicated DNA. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 20 June 12-a/1 It would be ‘almost criminal to look upon this unreplicated study as representative’.
1881Le Conte Light 172 Now a rectangular cross-image, if *unrotated, would project as the crosses in the corners.
1905Rep. Evolution Committee R. Soc. ii. 110 Some gametes are bearing r.p. [sc. the characters of both ‘rose comb’ and ‘pea comb’ together (in poultry)] *unsegregated. 1954Harper's Mag. Sept. 47/2 On the first day of the fall term, Amy Miller..was so apprehensive about entering an unsegregated school that she persuaded her father, a truck driver, to accompany her. 1977Listener 17 Feb. 215/3 One of the motives..was to bring an unsegregated band to perform before an un⁓segregated audience.
1923J. S. Huxley Ess. Biologist vii. 271 We may perhaps best say that a sublimated instinct has more and higher values attached to its satisfaction than one *unsublimated. 1952Gerth & Martindale tr. Weber's Anc. Judaism v. 126 Acculturation is generally productive of entirely new..phenomena given the..compelling need of absorbing a series of as yet unsublimated ideas. 1967N. Marsh Death at Dolphin iv. 94 An actor..was embarrassed rather than released by unsublimated chunks of raw association.
1887Cook Sievers' O.E. Gram. 168 The middle vowel has again forced an entrance from the *unsyncopated forms. 1922W. J. Locke Tale of Triona ix. 97 A company of women groping..after ideals in unsyncopated time. 1950Blesh & Janis They all played Ragtime (1958) ii. 44 The second and third themes, printed unsyncopated, cry out for syncopation when one plays them. 1953K. H. Jackson Lang. & Hist. in Early Britain 689 The AS. Cerdic seems to have been borrowed..from a syncopated Pr. W. *Car'dig..side by side with unsyncopated Ceredig.
1939Geogr. Jrnl. XCIV. 221 A high pyramid of *unvegetated sand was a prominent landmark. 1970Nature 2 May 429/2 The unvegetated mudflats of Sanderson's Gulf.
(c) ending in -ized.
1938A. Farrer in T. E. Jessup et al. Christian Understanding of Man 211 Christianity asserts..that there is a true nature of man..actual in the Divine mind and never wholly *unactualized in men.
1875A. J. C. Hare Days near Rome I. 1 The real, true, un-Anglicized, *un-Americanized country. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 18 June 481/4 An un-Americanised..honest English England.
1950O. Nash Family Reunion (1951) 134 He undergoes the lecturing Like *unanesthetized vivisecturing.
1934Blunden Mind's Eye iv. 256 A world as yet *unanatomized by scientific accuracy.
1875*Un-Anglicized [see un-Americanized above]. 1964B. Trnka in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 186 The French nasals in the occasionally un-Anglicized pronunciation of Modern French words.
1873J. Davies Hesiod, & Theognis ii. i. 130 The shape in which the poetry of Theognis has come down to us is as unlike the original form and drift as a handbook of maxims from Shakespeare is unlike an undoctored and *un-Bowdlerised play. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Dec. 738/2 A quarter of a century ago the complete, unbowdlerized edition of 1951 might have made a stir.
1886Pall Mall G. 1 Oct. 4/1 A father of limited means and *uncapitalized income.
1885Seth Scott. Philos. iv. 136 To this *uncategorised perception..Kant allows a wide range.
1852Meanderings of Mem. I. 76 Hope, *un⁓celestialized by heathen hand.
1862J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. XXII. 510 The vast *uncolonized region of Arkansas, and Texas. 1979Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. XXXII. 222/1 The relative availability of uncolonized stars will be rapidly and dramatically restricted.
1921E. Sapir Language 176 The long *un⁓diphthongized u is still preserved in Lowland Scotch. 1951W. K. Matthews Languages U.S.S.R. iii. 35 Undiphthongised long e and o.
1860W. C. Lake in Life (1901) 199 Liddell, whom I found quite different and *un⁓donicised (by the side of Whewell at least).
1907G. Murray Rise Greek Epic ii. 55 It was a hard task for an island in that position to keep itself *un-Hellenized. 1934A. Toynbee Study of Hist. II. 79 This region remained unhellenized much longer than many places that were far more distant from the Aegean. 1960C. S. Lewis Studies in Words ii. 24 In defiance of chronology, we begin with some account of the Latin and English words in their un-hellenised condition.
1855Milman Lat. Chr. xiv. vi. (1864) IX. 218 Toulouse owns only her own *unidealised unromanticised Counts.
1934Webster, *Unindustrialized. 1962Rep. Constitution Commission, Pakistan 1961 iv. 40 The unindustrialized portion of Bengal. 1978R. Mitchison Life in Scotland viii. 154 The Scottish pattern of tall tenements..is to be found in older unindustrialized burghs.
1885Athenæum 20 June 788/1 The author's liberal use of *unitalicized..French words.
1971*Unlemmatized [see key-word-in-context s.v. key n.1 18].
1968O. Wynd Sumatra Seven Zero ii. 16 She'll have a handsome income for as long as the place stays *un⁓nationalized.
1957L. Fox Numerical Solution Two-Point Boundary Probl. vii. 170 This constant is the reciprocal of the corresponding current estimate of λ, obtained as the ratio of successive *unnormalized first components.
1889Cent. Dict., *Unparasitized. 1949Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol. & Med. LXX. 580/2 To make such values really comparable with those obtained for unparasitized blood it is necessary to know both the parasite count, and the proportions present of parasites of different sizes.
1909Webster, *Unpasteurized. 1955J. G. Davis Dict. Dairying (ed. 2) 789 Special fluting arrangements to prevent any unpasteurised milk seepages from reaching the outlet connection. 1975Listener 14 Aug. 205/2 The beer here is unpasteurised, unassisted into the glass by CO2.
1946Electronic Engin. Feb. 54/3 *Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride. 1982Sears & Darby Technol. of Plasticizers v. 301 Rigid, unplasticized PVC..essentially obeys Hooke's Law for quite some distance.
1976D. Davin Woman-Work (1978) ii. 57 Communist experience in the towns had been limited to clandestine work in which contact with the mass of *unpoliticized women was very difficult.
1879Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXXV. 758 They [sc. terpenes] are ultimately rendered optically inactive, a considerable proportion remaining *unpolymerised. 1976Jrnl. Molecular Biol. CV. 527 Is there an appreciable amount of unpolymerized protein free within the cytoplasm, as there probably is for microtubules?
1958A. Toynbee East to West 37 Even this *unpressurized plane would fly high enough to make certain of that [sc. flying blind]. 1963Economist 2 Feb. 413/2 Some of the best thinking had been done under pressure..far from..optimum conditions... Its case for an unpressurised future might have seemed stronger. 1974P. Gore-Booth With Great Truth & Respect 57 But I did, between Chicago and Minneapolis, take my first aeroplane flight; nobody warned me what an unpressurized flight does to your ears. 1978S. Radley Death & Maiden xiii. 123 The real, unpressurised Adnams Suffolk ale. 1978Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. e2/4 (Advt.), Package of 3 Nassau brand unpressurized tennis balls.
1959Times 28 May 16/6 Equally important is a constant, *unpublicized two-way exchange. 1977M. Edelman Polit. Lang. vii. 123 Both the publicized and the un⁓publicized aspects of policymaking processes have functions to serve.
1967Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. LX. 1134/1 The second type of integument is found in the softer *unsclerotized regions of the body. 1976D. J. Horn Biol. Insects v. 212 Greater freedom of movement between sclerotized parts is afforded by thin, unsclerotized membranes at joints of moveable body parts.
1934Webster, *Unsocialized. 1948H. V. Hodson Twentieth-Cent. Empire x. 112 The still unstabilized and unsocialized citizens. 1964P. Meadows in I. L. Horowitz New Sociology 451 Locating the sources of human hostility in..unsocialized, primitive impulse, Freudian social theory provided the same kind of conservative blast at political and economic radicalism.
a1861Cunningham Hist. Theol. (1864) II. xxiv. 325 The sounder or *unsocinianized Arminians.
1830Lamb Let. 24 May, I..know no more of stave and crochet Than did the *Un-Spaniardised Peruvians.
1864Sat. Rev. 3 Dec., A mere *unspurgeonized profane grocer.
1948*Unstabilized [see unsocialized above]. 1960Times 23 Feb. 12/2 The other [class of satellite] was a smaller unstabilized instrumentation package of 50 lb. 1975Petroleum Rev. XXIX. 89/3 Unstabilised raw crude oil consisting of crude oil and natural gas liquids will be pumped at increasing rates of throughput to Teesside.
1909Webster, *Unstandardized. 1920S. Alexander Space, Time, & Deity ii. 262 Error is real only as possessed by the unstandardised believer. 1930E. Weekley Adjectives & Other Words 154, I need hardly say that he was one of the elderly and unstandardized—the sort of man..who says onct for once.
1909Webster, *Unsterilized. 1945Mind LIV. 327 Pasteur found that putrescible liquids exposed to unsterilised air..developed infusoria. 1979United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 333 The atmosphere in this 19th-century structure is distinctly unmodern..and un⁓sterilized.
1885Pall Mall G. 23 Jan. 5/1 *Unsubventionized English steamers.
1858Brownson's Q. Rev. Apr. 198 Salvation lies in the supernatural order, and is not secured in the *unsupernaturalized by the simple negative merit of not sinning.
1844Draper in Philos. Mag. July 2 The *untithonized chlorine shows no disposition to unite with its hydrogen.
1973Guardian 23 Feb. 17/2 The American unions seemed to accept a situation in which some 68 million workers..remained *ununionized. 1984Listener 1 Mar. 15/2 There is..an inability to see what this feels like from the point of view of people who may be unskilled workers who are still predominantly ununionised.
1968P. Dickinson Skin Deep iii. 42 There was still a telephone kiosk..momentarily *unvandalised too.
1844Noad Electricity (ed. 2) 267 If even the smallest quantity of liquid remains in the capsule, *unvaporized.
1909W. James Pluralistic Universe 348 Its purity is only a relative term, meaning the proportional amount of *unverbalized sensation which it [sc. experience] still embodies. 1977P. Strevens New Orientations Teaching Eng. xii. 149 The internalized, unverbalized rules according to which sentences are created.
b. Past pples. with other endings, from strong or weak verbs. These form a much smaller class, but include a considerable number in common use, as unbegun, unblown, unborn, unbought, etc. A few are found with -ate for -ated, as unevaporate, -exaggerate, but these and others not permanently established in the language are of rare occurrence.
Examples in Ash are unbeset, uncast, uninterwoven, unshotten, unshown, unslung, etc.
c. Participial formations with un- frequently have a suffixed adverb or preposition (usually with a hyphen when the formation is used attributively). An early example of this is unborne-away (Caxton, 1483); others make their appearance in the 16th and 17th centuries, as uncalled-for, uncared-for, unheard-of, unlooked-for, unthought-of, etc. A number of these have become permanent and are in general use; the following are examples of more casual formations.
1884H. Spencer in Contemp. Mag. 613 Exceptional communities unaggressive and from special causes *unaggressed upon.
1858Froude Hist. Eng. IV. 496 Unvouched for, *unalluded to by any contemporary authority as yet discovered.
1887Daily News 3 Nov. 2/5 You have..allowed your conduct to remain unexplained and *unapologised for.
1855Browning Bp. Blougram's Apol. 894 Not simply unbutted at, *unbickered with.
1847Medwin Shelley I. 105 This startling and *unborne-out proposition.
1970D. Francis Rat Race ix. 116 The Derrydowns Six had been hired by an *un-clued-up trainer. 1982Times 20 Apr. 1/5 Cardinal Hume..said..‘I am terribly unclued up on what constitutes a war.’
1873Waterford in Hare Two Noble Lives (1893) III. 325 [For my dance] I expect so many very young and pretty girls—the *un-come-out Durhams and Tankervilles.
1860E. Venables Isle of Wight 332 Many a lovely nook..*unencroached upon as yet by gentility.
1836R. M. M'Cheyne in Mem. (1872) 296 It had left some footpath *unglared across.
1832Tennyson Sonn., Alexander 12 High things were spoken there, *unhanded down.
1863Grosart Small Sins (ed. 2) 79, I do not say that his prayer will go unheard, much less *unhearkened to.
1839Burgon Life & Times Gresham I. ii. 57 His administration..was very nearly *uninterfered with.
1830J. G. Strutt Sylva Brit. 11 The extent to which the oak will throw its broad arms..when *unintruded upon.
1648Hexham ii, Een Onbeslapen dochter, a maide *Vnlien with, or a Virgine.
1828Craven Gloss., *Unmelled-on, not meddled with.
1849Mill Ess. (1859) II. 335 Justice..demand[s] that these unmerited attacks should not remain *unprotested against.
1871Macduff Mem. Patmos vii. 90 As they sob their tale of *unresponded-to anguish.
1849M. Arnold Fragm. ‘Antigone’ i. [He] makes his own welfare his *unswerv'd-from law.
a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xvi. §17 After he had lived some years in Paris *untaken notice of, indeed unknown.
d. A type of formation which is not very frequent is that in which the participle is preceded by a noun, usually with instrumental sense, as in the following examples.
1595Polimanteia (1881) 36 For not..aged censoring Cato might challenge greater priuiledge of trueth, then your free toongd and *vn-aw-bound skill.
1765[E. Thompson] Meretriciad 26 She never vended goods *unduty paid.
1829Bentham Justice & Cod. Petit. 104 Because by the judges, *unfee-fed as they would be, nothing would be to be got by it.
1895L. A. Tollemache B. Jowett 135 The barren laurels of an *un-heaven-rewarded martyrdom.
1659Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. ii. 68 That single and signal instance of that *Unparliament-impowred Convocation.
1598Barret Theor. Warres 5 The *vnsouldier-learned, to the vnlettered souldier may be paralleld as the Phisition Theorike to the grosse practitioner.
1605Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iv. Captains 1022 Where, Learned men, *un⁓soule-clog'd (as it were) With servile gyves of Kings imperious Fear, Fly even to Heav'n.
1879Rutley Study Rocks xiv. 300 Consisting partly of angular and comparatively *unwater-worn..materials.
9. a. Adjectival forms in -ed, from substantives, of the type unbearded, unbodied, unfeathered, etc. These are anticipated in OE. by such rare formations as unᵹefeþered, unᵹewintred, unwǽded, but otherwise belong to the 16th and subsequent centuries. The usual sense is ‘not provided or furnished with’, but sometimes ‘not affected by’, ‘not treated with’, etc.; in the latter case the use is not clearly distinguishable from the purely participial.
Ash gives such instances as unaproned, unbrooched, unbuskined, unchevroned, uncliented, uncodded, etc.
Recent formations include: unautumned, unaveraged, unbanked (also absol.), unbra-ed, unbrassièred, undentisted, ungated, ungoggled, unillusioned, unjacketed, unmooned, unpupilled, unrectored, unscripted, unspeeched.
1881J. M. Brown Student Life 13 The *unancestored genius.
1920J. Masefield Enslaved 6 The old *un-autumned beauty that never goes away.
1905Webster, *Un⁓averaged. 1924G. B. Shaw St. Joan p. xli, The un⁓averaged individual, representing life..never at its merely mathematical average.
1965Economist 19 June p. vii, One way of jerking the clearing banks into providing better facilities for the great *unbanked public. 1980Daily Tel. 9 Dec. 15 The banks are well aware that they can best pay their own wages bills by drumming up more business from the great unbanked.
1873Daily News 22 Aug., The barbarous exposure of them, *unblanketed in piquet line.
1962J. P. Carstairs Pardon my Gun i. 20 The large cusp-like *un-bra-ed bosom..stood, prow-like.
1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ix. 148 He touched his hat to local Mums with shapeless *unbrassiered bosoms. 1981M. Gee Dying, in Other Words 74 She had pressed her unbrassièred breasts on his shoulders and said he was gorgeous.
1846Worcester (citing Ed. Rev.), *Unbuoyed.., not buoyed.
1892Stevenson Across the Plains 13 A butler perhaps rides as high over the *unbutlered.
1882Encycl. Brit. XIV. 862/2 The *uncathedralled paganisms of American scenery and life.
1864Sala in Daily Tel. 25 Feb., I wonder whether the *unchattelled farmer will keep his oath.
1885Jrnl. Science July 389 The sewage of an *unclosetted town.
1877Blackmore Cripps (1887) 240 His simple, unpractised, and *un⁓cored heart.
1886Pall Mall G. 3 Aug. 6/2 A supplementary *uncostumed choir..supported the singing.
1873‘Susan Coolidge’ What Katy did at Sch. xi. 183 As she looked up at the *uncottoned space at the top of the window.
a1916H. James Sense of Past (1917) 290 His perfect and soignées teeth..which that *undentisted age can't have known the like of.
1860All Year Round No. 47. 493 With paint washed off and *undiamonded hair.
1887D. A. Low Machine Drawing Pref. p. iii, An *undimensioned scale drawing.
188319th Cent. May 858 *Unfountained from above, the higher moral virtues would decay for lack of a meaning.
1954Norfolk Mag. June 57/2 Immediately beyond the farmhouse is the now *ungated entrance to the grounds. 1978C. Tomlinson Shaft 21 Did Eden Greet us ungated?
1914Beerbohm in Eng. Rev. Dec. 18 From time to time (for I too was *ungoggled) I looked round to nod and smile. 1940G. Frankau Self-Portrait lxii. 385, I drove like a fool, the car open and my eyes ungoggled.
1864E. A. Murray Ella Norman II. 270 That on the left was a treeless, *ungrassed elevation.
1887Rider Haggard Jess xiv, You must either knock under..or trek on into the *unhostelled wilderness.
1934Webster, *Unillusioned. 1940W. Faulkner Hamlet ii. ii. 130 The father, the lean pleasant shrewd unillusioned man..had been betrayed at the last. 1982London Rev. Bks. IV. xxiv. 23/2 We competitors are unillusioned about the lipservice of the walls of leaning bodies and megaphone hands that we sprint between.
1860All Year Round No. 41. 344 A draught of pure *unincensed air from the open window.
1878B. Taylor Deukalion ii. v. 90 Druid oaks *Univied, stretch their stubborn arms abroad.
1925Times 17 Aug. 6/2 A single *unjacketed saucepan of a capacity equal to twice the amount of water to be put into it. 1970D. Dodge Hatchetman iii. 52 They used lead bullets, un⁓jacketed; illegal, under the Hague Convention. 1980N. Marsh Photo-Finish iv. 86 He..came upon a book... It was unjacketed and the spine was rubbed.
1880I. L. Bird Japan I. p. xxii, An *unmatted floor.
1926S. Leslie Cantab (ed. 2) x. 115 The *unmooned sky inked out the Universe. 1940W. Faulkner Hamlet ii. ii. 127 The long return through night-time roads across the mooned or unmooned sleeping land.
1821Examiner 5 Aug. 482/1 The unbeneficed and *unparked.
1844Poe Mesmeric Rev. Wks. 1864 I. 113 Until we arrive at a matter *unparticled—without particles.
1888Rutley Rock-Forming Min. 142 A band of unstriated or *unpegged crystal.
1874J. Addis Eliz. Echoes (1879) 110 Defiant Chestnuts prick the air, *Unpennon'd battle-spears arraying.
1914R. Brooke Let. Mar. (1968) 568 They come to you by night,..& their eyes—*unpupiled balls of white—fall out too, & they stink & shine. 1955W. Gaddis Recognitions i. vii. 231 He did not move, nor did his unpupiled eyes betray any surprise.
1861Times 25 Feb. 8/5 The banks of our river *unquayed.
1863Not an Angel II. 260 The *unrailwayed inhabitants of that neighbourhood.
1836F. Mahony Rel. Father Prout (1859) 394 As for your critic,..We *unrancoured hope to see him.
1944Auden For Time Being 31 She cannot conceivably tolerate in her presence..the rival..who does not rule but defiantly is the *unrectored chaos.
a1871De Morgan Budget Parad. (1872) 75 The following, of which I have an *unreferenced note.
1887Meredith Poet. Wks. (1912) 332 Idly the flax wheel spun *unridered.
1877Blackmore Erema xi, The riders struck the savage, *unrowelled spur into them.
1822Wilkins Body & Soul I. 123 The picturesque appearance of the *unsabled mourners.
1953Ann. Reg. 1952 449 Previously an *unscripted defamatory broadcast was treated as slander. 1966G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising ix. 89 So far my remarks about the spoken language have applied mainly to unrehearsed and un⁓scripted speech.
1852Meanderings of Mem. I. 5 Worn As weary nakedness, *unshooned, unshorn.
1854Hooker Himal. Jrnls. I. xi. 252 The ridge was *unsnowed a little way down the east flank.
1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad I. 144 The only ‘distinguished dead’ who went down to the grave *unsonnetted.
1831Scott Jrnl. 26 Nov., I got home about mid-night; but remain unpoetised and *unspeeched. 1922Joyce Ulysses 49 His mouth moulded issuing breath, unspeeched.
1648Hexham ii, Ongespitst, Vnpointed, or *Vnspired.
1866in Cassell's Techn. Educ. (1879) IV. 108/2 The fold-yards are also kept *unspouted.
1823E. Moor Suffolk Words 23 Where words occur, not readily understood by the *Unsuffolked reader, he is to take them as Suffolcisms.
1872G. B. Cheever Lect. Pilgr. Progr. xiv. 345 What we know of the..state of *untabernacled souls is but little.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 244 The serene *untempested heavens of the isles of the blest.
1860O. W. Holmes Elsie V. xiv, There are states of mind..which remain not only unworded, but *unthoughted.
1867H. Conybeare in Fortn. Rev. Nov. 514 There is a breadth of effect in the..*untraceried windows.
1888Yeats Wand. Oisin Poems (1908) 259 His vast foot that lay Half in the *unvesselled sea.
1866Crichton Rambles Orcades 34 Over country ‘unrailway-ed’ and ‘*unvilla-ed’.
b. Instances in which the noun is preceded by a qualifying word are not numerous, and such formations are usually individual or casual.
[1650Trapp Comm. Lev. xxi. 18 Lest his Ministerie bee sleighted for..unheavenlie mindedness.] 1870Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. May, Suppl. 3/1 Plain white unwatermarked paper. 1872Ruskin Fors Clav. xix. 6 My notion of..charity is, by no means..the giving to unable-bodied paupers. 1964Economist 19 Dec. 1356/1 A straightforward, unfootnoted historical narrative.
10. The use of un- with present participles, revived about 1300 (see 4 above), subsequently became common, and has given rise to a large number of permanent words, such as unbecoming, unbending, unchanging, undoubting, etc. (On the participial use of such forms see 5 d.) Examples of casual formations are given below.
Others occurring in Ash's dictionary are unbeguiling, unbiasing, unblinding, unbuilding, unenticing, unflowing, etc.
Recent formations include: unalloying, unarresting, uncompelling, unconflicting, unendearing, unenticing, unexhilarating, unexpanding, unfascinating, unflowering, unforfending, unforthcoming, unmatching, unminding (cf. unminding vbl. n.), unmourning, unselfpitying, unselfregarding, unselfseeking, unswinging [swinging ppl. a. 3 b, c], unthreatening.
1812Shelley Retrospect in Compl. Poet. Wks. (1904) 970/2 When mountain, meadow, wood and stream With *unalloying glory gleam.
1883R. Bridges Prometh. 79 Hope..to cheer with visions fair Their *unamending pains.
1844Wardlaw Prov. xxxix. (1869) II. 44 Doctrines of this easy *unannoying description.
1873Ruskin Fors Clav. xxx. 2 He showed his wisdom in pleasant and *unappalling ways.
1845R. W. Hamilton Pop. Educ. iii. (ed. 2) 40 Agriculture,..in the ordinary processes of its labour,..has been simple and *un⁓arousing.
1906G. Higgins in A. Smith Life of St. Agnes p. viii, It may be objected..that a book treating of times and persons and occurrences of so ancient a date must be dull and *unarresting. 1958Times 25 Nov. 14/4 It was disconcerting to hear..so musically unarresting an account from her of so genial a work.
1876Mrs. Whitney Sights & Ins. II. xxxviii. 673 There had been two wonderful tides, that which carried them forth, all uncertain, *unbelonging, separate.
1870G. T. Dodds in Bonar Life ii. (1884) 70 Our study will be comparatively useless and *unbenefiting.
1885Pall Mall G. 6 Feb. 6/1 A safe and *unblundering guide through the mazes.
1862Furnivall Handlyng Synne Pref. p. ix, Ready to turn to account, though in an *unboring way, every opportunity.
1873C. E. Norton Lett. (1913) I. viii. 471 Carlyle seemed a little weary, perhaps weakened by the mild *unbracing weather.
1837Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 358 None of these ends can be accomplished..unless this be done in a neat ‘*unbungling’ manner.
1886Academy 14 Aug. 109/1 The Gaelic tribes of Ireland—that ‘heap of *uncementing sand’.
1884Harper's Mag. Apr. 659/2 Da Porta's..*uncommenting way of telling the story.
1857Ld. Granville in Life (1905) I. x. 260, I encourage the correspondence by commonplace *uncommitting acknowledgements.
1920W. J. Locke House of Baltazar xi. 130 We sought for possible imperative objectives, and one so apparently *un⁓compelling as China never occurred to us. 1977Gramophone Jan. 1139/3 How best to write about a set which is noteworthy but ultimately uncompelling?
1784R. Bage Barham Downs I. 101 *Unconcatenating blockhead!
1899‘J. Oxenham’ Rising Fortunes xxvii. 182 His was a character of sharp contrasts—of perfect consistency, from his own point of view—of *unconflicting opposites. 1938F. Scott Fitzgerald Let. 18 Apr. (1964) 29 We are unconflicting on 90% of things.
1858Faber Spir. Confer. 136 Of all saving things, fear..is..the most *undeluding.
1823D. McNicoll Wks. (1837) 118 *Undemurring confidence.
1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. 20 To burn *undisdaining upon the reeds of the river.
1865Grosart Mem. H. Palmer 38 His was the omnipotence of the light,..silent *undisplaying might.
1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 495 A simple *unembarrassing method of stopping the screw from being relaxed.
1926W. de la Mare Connoisseur 49 The eyes..were now peering vacantly..over a trim but *unendearing moustache at the crumbs on his empty plate. 1981F. Inglis Promise of Happiness viii. 202 That is a lapse into avuncularity... In the novel..it is not un⁓endearing.
1915W. J. Locke Jaffery v. 63 Mountains..were made for goats and cascades and lunatics..; and the more jagged and *unenticing they are, the greater is their specious air of stupendousness. 1948D. Welch Brave & Cruel 95, I wondered that Mr. Mellon could show such fondness for Phyllis; she seemed so very unenticing to me. 1978Observer 16 Apr. 38/1 The furniture was unenticing, but some American dealer would take a 40-foot container of assorted items.
1811Jane Austen Sense & Sens. II. xiii. 253 The nature of her commendation..was..very *unexhilarating to Edward. 1909W. J. Locke Septimus x. 114 He walked to the window and looked out into the unexhilarating street. 1968Punch 3 Jan. 32/2 With such an unexhilarating cast-list you'd expect a muted, subfusc drama. But there are surprises in store.
1905Spectator 11 Mar. 363 Countries which exclude coloured labour,..though possessing a larger area and..advantages of soil and climate, continue to suffer from..*unexpanding revenue, heavy taxation, and a stationary population. 1957‘O. Edwards’ Talking of Books 231 The time came, alas—as it always must in the case of expanding collections of books and unexpanding homes—when something had to go.
1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt III. xliii. 149 The love of this not *unfascinating man. 1883Athenæum 15 Dec. 774/3 The stories are as unfascinating as they can be made.
1887J. Hutchison Lect. Phil. xvii. 187 The *unfaultfinding complacency with which he contemplated one of his later works.
1942T. S. Eliot Little Gidding iii. 12 Being between two lives—*unflowering, between The live and the dead nettle.
1891Hardy Tess III. lvii. 255 Their every idea was temporary and *un⁓forefending, like the plans of two children.
1920‘O. Douglas’ Penny Plain xiv. 141 He might be so shy and *unforthcoming that he would put people off. 1934R. A. Knox Still Dead xii. 152 He was certainly a very repressed, unforthcoming sort of boy. 1966I. Jefferies House-Surgeon i. 13 Smiling uncomfortably and looking round for unforthcoming support from Grant. 1981‘E. Lathen’ Going for Gold xvi. 183 They were guarding a secret... It tells us why Miss Deladier..was so unforthcoming when we spoke to her.
1865Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) III. 263 She is so kind and *unfussing.
c1860Faber Hymn, Sacr. Heart iii, In that *ungrowing vision nothing deepens, nothing brightens.
1876Meredith Beauch. Career II. iv. 64 The *unlettering elusive moon.
1887Morris Odyss. xii. 325 But *unlulling blew the south-wind.
1881R. G. White Eng. 74 This *unmarring modesty of outward show.
1939D. Wallace E. Anglia ii. 35 This unique church with its two *unmatching towers. 1969C. Armstrong Seven Seats to Moon xiii. 119 A bottle and two unmatching glasses.
1945Dylan Thomas in Life & Lett. July 28 Under the *unminding skies.
1945― in New Republic 14 May 675/2 By the *unmourning water Of the riding Thames.
1867J. Thomson Vane's Story, etc. (1881) 113 Their eyes..flashed..like swift swords That leapt *unparrying to each other's heart.
1873R. Broughton Nancy II. 216, I pass and re-pass the cold River Gods of the *unplaying fountain.
1862C. Crosland Mrs. Blake II. 131 Men..profess..a certain horror of an ‘*unpraying’ woman.
1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) III. 18 In a pure and healthy, or *unpredisposing atmosphere.
1866J. G. Murphy Comm., Exodus xxi. 14 The milder sentence of the *unpremeditating manslayer.
1866S. B. James Duty & Doctrine (1871) 290 Eternity hastens on, and so many are unprepared, are *unpreparing, to meet it.
1864Realm 24 Feb. 2 *Unpresaging of the complaints which will ere long issue from the offices.
1867H. Bushnell Mor. Uses Dark Things 195 Tropical consciences, which are out-door, self-indulgent, *unpronouncing consciences.
1862R. H. Patterson Ess. Hist. & Art 403 Secluded in position and *unproselytising in spirit.
1885Athenæum 24 Oct. 533 His life was an *unprotesting protest against convention.
1821Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 38 It is no very *unprovoking reflection.
c1800Macneill To Eliza 43 Plaguing her plain, *unpuffing spouse, About his former oaths and vows.
1882H. S. Holland Logic & Life (1885) 24 These impulses can⁓not be altogether blind and *unpurposing.
1881Ruskin Bible Amiens iv. §10 On the *unquaking and fruitful earth.
a1859De Quincey Posth. Wks. (1891) I. 220 To explain the true character of note-writing—how compressed and *un⁓rambling and direct it ought to be.
1878S. Cox Salv. Mundi vii. (ed. 3) 145 Doomed to an endless and *un⁓redeeming torment.
1880S. Lanier Sunrise Poems (1884) 8 The wave-serrate sea-rim sinks unjarring, *un⁓reeling.
1874L. Tollemache in Fortn. Rev. Feb. 229 We are..led to describe the poet..as an *unreforming optimist.
1869Mrs. H. Wood Roland Yorke III. 173 To submit to it in *unrefuting tameness.
1854Faber Growth in Holiness xiii. 223 Go walk by the shore of that *unresounding sea.
1858J. Robertson Poems 78 As light is mixed in the *unretreating air.
1864A. de Vere in Reader 30 Apr. 545/1 We part..With *unreverting faces, not ingrate.
1868Pusey Serm. Pharisaism 11 Monuments..scarce held in being by our *unsacrificing gifts.
1845Florist's Jrnl. (1846) VI. 177 An upright *unscrambling habit, and very blunt leaflets.
1932W. Faulkner Light in August xi. 221 The hard, untearful and *unselfpitying..yielding of that surrender. 1983N. & Q. Dec. 576/1 The voice that emerges..is that of a writer who is..generous in spirit, self-aware and unself⁓pitying.
a1945E. R. Eddison Mezentian Gate (1958) ii. 21 An ambiency of beauty that lived in her whole frame and posture, an easefulness and reposefulness of *un⁓selfregarding grace. 1982W. J. Walsh R. K. Narayan i. 27 An oblique and as unself-regarding a treatment as anything like an autobiography could possibly be.
1931W. S. Churchill World Crises VI. iii. 53 Fop, dandy, la-di-da; amiable, polite and curiously *un-selfseeking. 1963Times 7 June 7/3 Edward Grey, ‘the most completely unselfconscious and unselfseeking politician I have ever known’.
1888Meredith Poems (1898) II. 143, I saw, *unsighting: her heart I saw.
1880A. Raleigh Way to City (1881) 282 His goodness is a full and *unslacking stream.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 47 All tastless, nothing relishing; all *unsmelling, nothing scented.
1873Pater Stud. Hist. Renaiss. 74 This last passion would be the most *unsoftening..of all.
1848Buckley Iliad 193 Both heard an *unsoothing reply.
1883R. Bridges Prometh. 395 To sow thy seed Year after year in this *un⁓sprouting soil.
1815Chalmers Let. in Life (1851) II. 25 The more *unstaggering your faith is..the more is God well pleased with it.
1834De Quincey Autob. Sk. Wks. 1853 I. 211 We were detained a few days in those *unsteaming times by foul winds.
1863W. Lancaster Præterita 43, I lean on this *unstumbling oracle, And nourish hope.
1958K. Goodwin in P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz xiii. 153 Rumsey—himself a rather dull, plodding, completely *unswinging bassist. 1967Punch 23 Aug. 275/2 It only takes you a day or two in this utterly un⁓swinging country to realise what a frightful crushing bore the legendary London Scene has become. 1969Daily Tel. 29 May 22/7 An unswinging Anglo-Irishman who stands for the common decencies now so acutely unfashionable. 1972Jazz & Blues Feb. 22/1 Marshall is a little unswinging in places but Weston is suitably solid.
1844G. S. Faber Eight Dissert. (1845) II. 127 An *unsystematising perusal of the prophecy itself.
1885Irish Monthly Nov. 598 The white monotony of *unthawing snow.
1903E. Wharton Sanctuary i. i. 11 The very lifting of the cloud—remote, *unthreatening as it had been.
1858H. Bushnell Serm. New Life 100 More ambitious and more *untransforming to the people.
1865Pall Mall G. 29 Sept. 10/1 Novel sensations wherewith to enliven the *untravelling reader.
1888A. S. Wilson Lyric Hopeless Love 162 Nor vow..nor sacred rite The *ununiting can unite.
1880W. Watson Prince's Quest, etc. (1892) 94 So forward piloted.., she held her way *Unveering.
1878J. Fothergill First Violin vi. iv, To finger, or blow into, or beat the dumb, *unvibrating things.
1878B. Taylor Deukalion i. iv. 34 Gray sedges wave *Unwhispering ever, o'er the slimy flats.
1887Morris Odyss. x. 282 Whither away..dost thou wander,..*Unwotting of the country?
11. a. In OE. adverbial formations in -líce formed a large portion of the words in un-. Very few of these survived in ME., but additions were gradually made which maintained the existence of the type (ending in -liche in southern dialects and -ly in the northern). Subsequently the use of un- with -ly again became common, independent of the form of the central element, which may be an adjective, present or past pple., etc. There are however two ways in which such formations may arise. Either the suffix -ly is added to a form already beginning with un-, or un- is prefixed to an adverb already formed with -ly. In most cases the difference in sense is slight or immaterial, but at times the distinction becomes important. If unprofessionally is formed from unprofessional it means ‘at variance with, contrary to, professional rules or etiquette’, if from professionally it means ‘not in a professional manner or capacity’.
The following are miscellaneous examples of recent formations: unarguably, unassessably, unboringly, unbridgeably, unconsciently, unhungrily, unidentifiably, unignorably, unprotestingly, unselectively, unurgently.
A few others occur in early dictionaries, as unaccessively, unbewailably, unfalsely, unrecoverably.
1887H. S. Holland Creed & Char. 126 So He pityingly, *unangrily pronounced.
1929Daily Express 3 Jan. 8/6 ‘You know Mr. Umph, don't you?’ with an intonation implying that not to know Mr. Umph leaves one *unarguably in the certifiable class. 1978Nature 20 Apr. 666/3 By excluding a sizable class of environmental variables, high within group heritability, unarguably does raise the probability of the remaining classes of possible explanations.
1937J. R. R. Tolkien Hobbit xii. 231 Surely, O Smaug the *unassessably wealthy, you must realize that your success has made you some bitter enemies?
1921F. G. Ellerton Let. 6 Sept. in John Bailey (1935) 214 You do his life most frightfully well and *unboringly and your observes on Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained are most excellent.
1932Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Jan. 33/3 The unique, the *unbridgably different. 1979Church Times 30 Nov. (Christmas Bk. Suppl.) p. xi/1, Christ and God are presented as living in a world unbridgeably remote.
1842Murray's Hand-bk. N. Italy 21/2 The Cardinal..had most *uncardinally directed the painter [etc.].
1869W. G. Ward Ess. (1884) II. 243 These *uncatholicly educated Catholics who are the Church's most dangerous enemies.
1824J. Gilchrist Etym. Interpr. 150 Many verbs..are employed both causatively and *un⁓causatively.
1816Bentham Chrestom. Wks. 1843 VIII. 38 The short time necessary..would not be *unchrestomathically employed.
1929R. Bridges Testament of Beauty ii. 51 So, tho' slowly and *unconsciently, he remembereth.
1871Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. viii. 130 If you wish to speak to me, plainly, honestly, and *un⁓disputatiously.
1830W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry II. 369 The very words, which twice before They said by heart so *unerroneously.
1887Pall Mall G. 18 Oct. 1/1 That her eyes are set not *ungreedily upon Morocco is notorious to every one.
1838Tait's Mag. V. 279 She told her weeping tale..so mildly, and so *unhatingly towards the prisoners.
1783Satanical Remembrancer 16 Our Irish Native Van Sighè, vulgarly and *unhibernically called Banshee.
1842Pusey Crisis Eng. Ch. 9 It may be, that we may all together learn humility, and none..think *un⁓humbly of them.
1922Joyce Ulysses 172 His eyes *un⁓hungrily saw shelves of tins, sardines, gaudy lobsters' claws. 1965‘R. Macdonald’ Far Side of Dollar xxiii. 204 Susanna broiled me a steak, and chewed unhungrily on a piece of it.
1885Stevenson in Contemp. Rev. Apr. 555 The groups which..break up the verse for utterance, fall *uniambically.
1934F. M. Ford Let. 27 Sept. (1965) 235, I never guyed you either identifiably or *unidentifiably. 1982A. Price Old Vengeful ii. 42 The new voice..was..unidentifiably classless.
1960E. Bowen Time in Rome ii. 41 No tribute to an assassinated uncle can have been ever more *unignorably placed.
1884W. M. Baker in Harper's Mag. Mar. 561/2 No woman could have done more, and so naturally and *unintrusively.
1884A. C. Bickley Geo. Fox vii. 96 Lambert defended himself not altogether *unjesuitically.
1737Gentl. Mag. VII. 13/2 *Unliterally and ungrammatically.
1833–40J. H. Newman Ch. of Fathers 264 Olybrius, our virgin's father, who..was *unmaturely carried off.
1873B. Gregory Holy Catholic Ch. xv. 162 What boots it that the chain of bishops has become..inextricably entangled and *unmendably snapped?
1838R. Bagot Let. in Liddon Life Pusey (1893) II. xxi. 57 Feeling sure that you will not think that I ever..acted *unopenly towards you.
1887J. A. Wylie Hist. Scott. Nation II. xxii. 279 Heads so *unorthodoxically shorn.
1862S. Lucas Secularia 327 He received an ostensible letter of recall, and with it a private letter apprising him that ‘*unostensibly his proceedings were approved of’.
1824Westm. Rev. Jan. 143 Who had unprofessionally and *unpecuniarily burthened his memory with the dull details.
1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 80 ‘I didn't realize she was so completely your kept woman.’ ‘She wasn't,’ he said *unprotestingly. 1972P. Cave Judas Freaks xv. 104 She followed unprotestingly.
1875Howells Foregone Concl. xv. 259 Some..harmless thing that she had *unpurposely bruised.
1889Saltus Truth about T. Varick 165 The..most *unrebuffably good-natured scoundrel that he had ever encountered.
1882W. R. Greg Misc. Ess. ii. 31 As briefly and *unrhetorically as possible.
1859Boyd Recreat. Country Parson (1862) 36 The massive foolscap..over which the pen so pleasantly and *unscratchingly glides.
1929A. N. Whitehead Process & Reality 161 The pattern refers *unselectively to any eternal objects. 1977Nature 3 Nov. 15/2 Quantitative measurements..show hydroxyl radicals..to interact unselectively with most biological molecules at rates which are practically diffusion controlled.
1834New Monthly Mag. XLII. 53 *Unsilenceably resounded in his ears the mandate.
a1864Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1883) 352 Last night was the most uncomfortably and *unsleepably sultry that we have experienced.
1980V. Cunningham Spanish Civil War Verse 45 Jack Lindsay's Declamation now seems *un⁓urgently lengthy and even turgid.
1855Lynch Rivulet lxxvii. ii, *Unvauntingly, yet with defiance, One man the world may meet.
1852Smedley L. Arundel xliii. 331 His..tail, which was crumpled up *un-wag-ably in the corner.
b. Un- is seldom prefixed to simple adverbs. Even in OE. such formations are rare, though a few do occur, as unéaðe, unefne, unfæᵹere, unfeorr, unseldan, unsófte. ME. retained most of these, but the number has at no time been greatly added to, and the later tendency is to discard such forms altogether.
12. a. The OE. use of un- with substantives (see 2 e above) survived very fully in ME., not only by the retention of old forms but by the introduction of many new, which continue to multiply in the later periods of the language. From the beginning the nouns have been almost entirely restricted to those of an abstract nature, so that forms with suffixes are numerous. In OE. and ME. the commonest of these is -ness (occasionally -dom and -ship); subsequently -ation, -ity, and -ment are frequent, as in the following selection of miscellaneous examples.
Florio (1611) has a certain number of casual formations, as unacknowledgement, unartness, unbrittleness, undwellingness, uneloquence, unfrailness, etc. Ash gives unadequateness, uncommensurability, -ableness, unfrugalness, unliableness, unorganicalness, and various others.
Recent formations include: unaccentuation, unamaze, unamazement, unbook, unclarity, uncomfiness, uncountry, uncrackability, uncreditworthiness, undeath, undeathliness, undecrease, undeviation, uneducation, unenlightenment, unfreshness, unfulfilment, unglamorousness, unimportancy, unintelligentsia, uninterruptability, uninvolvement, unlight, unmeritocracy, unpriggishness, unrepose, unsurprise, unwettability.
1883A. Stewart Nether Lochaber l. 316 The *unabidingness..of all sublunary things.
1879G. M. Hopkins Let. 27 Feb. in Hopkins & Dixon Corr. (1955) 22 Wherever there is an accent or stress, there there is also so much *unaccentuation, so to speak, or slack.
1887Athenæum 6 Aug. 177/2 Some decidedly clever..observations upon the *unactuality of old art.
1853E. S. Sheppard Ch. Auchester II. 211 Here I suddenly arrested myself, for my *unaddress stared me in the face.
1884N. & Q. 6 Sept. 189 The Church only crossed the Jordan, and that on dry land and in the purest *unalarm.
1936W. Faulkner Absalom, Absalom! i. 8 Then in the long *unamaze Quentin seemed to watch them.
1954― Fable 369 Thinking in a sort of quiet *unamazement, Yes, I probably knew from the moment he sent for me what door I should have to emerge from.
a1866J. Grote Exam. Utilit. Philos. (1870) 324 The *unassociativeness of different races of man.
1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 263 The picturesque vivacity and ever-renewing *unassuetude of the whole scene.
1884Athenæum 23 Aug. 238 The onesidedness and *unbalancement of our best efforts.
1965Probl. Communism July/Aug. 56 (heading) Another *un-book. 1982Underground Grammarian Nov. 5/1 Reading experts always need tricky new gimmicks to put in their unbooks.
1868Ruskin Time & Tide (1872) 31, I must get back to the evil light, and *uncalm, of the places I was taking you through.
1844Kinglake Eothen (1845) 324 *Unchangefulness in the midst of change.
1934Webster, *Unclarity. 1936Mind XLV. 503 Prof. Reichenbach's discussion of material, formal, and tautologous implication..suffers from the same unclarity. 1980‘J. le Carré’ Smiley's People v. 54 ‘Vladimir telephoned the Circus at lunch-time today, sir,’ Mostyn began, leaving some unclarity as to which ‘sir’ he was addressing.
1914L. S. Woolf Wise Virgins ii. 39 ‘I hate being uncomfortable. But then I don't think I often am, except when I..cut my nails.’ ‘Oh, that sort of *uncomfyness!’ said Gwen.
1862F. Hall Hindu Philos. Syst. 143 Atheism, injury to others, *uncompassion, falsehood, and so forth.
1873Mrs. Whitney Other Girls xxx, *Unconsent to the divine impulse comes of incongruity.
1862Spencer First Princ. (1870) 281 That increase of internal motion involves a progressing *unconsolidation.
1964W. Golding Spire ix. 178 In this *un⁓country there was blue sky and light, consent and so sin.
1923Daily Mail 10 Jan. 9 (Advt.), The Vitreosil Globe, because of its ‘*uncrackability’, lies close to the mantle.
1966Economist 22 Oct. 413/2 Even the unlucky companies mentioned above are..credit worthy enough: the depths of *uncreditworthiness below remain murky indeed.
1882Ch. Times XX. 938 All that the State can aim at is *un-crime, whereas the work of the Church is to inculcate virtue.
1865W. Kay Crisis Hupfeldiana 23 The à priori criticism, the *uncriticism, which is..chiefly intent on proving ‘two main conclusions’.
1933L. Riding Poet v. 125 The sum of the first and second sign Shall be *undeath of the moon. 1974Globe & Mail (Toronto) 24 July 13/4 There is, every now and then, a film that escapes this sort of un-death.
1922Joyce Ulysses 379 She prayed to God the Allruthful to have his dear soul in his *undeathliness.
1898Hardy Wessex Poems 5 Knowing that, though Love cease, Love's race shows *undecrease.
1858Sir C. Napier in Times 24 Nov. 9/5 This country must not be left in a state of *undefence.
1893Goldw. Smith in Contemp. Rev. Dec. 800 There is also *undesign,..there is waste, there is failure.
1932W. Faulkner Light in August xix. 435 He was going fast too,..with..the implacable *undeviation of Juggernaut or Fate.
1853Herschel Fam. Lect. Sci. vi. §42 (1873) 258 The three primary colours,.. each in its highest degree of purity and *undilution.
1886Pall Mall G. 12 July 10/1 Full of calmness, and courage, and quiet *undismay.
a1936G. K. Chesterton Common Man (1950) vii. 39 It is not their *uneducation but their education that I scoff at.
1866Carlyle Remin. (1881) II. 21 My feeling with him was that of *unembarrassment.
1882Century Mag. XXIV. 44, I had no power to return to my original *unembodiment.
1950T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party ii. 110 While still in a state of *unenlightenment, You could always say: ‘he could not love any woman.’ 1967T. Keneally Bring Larks & Heroes xxii. 178 A creature of dish-eyed unenlightenment.
1868Dilke Greater Brit. I. i. vi. 70 A fog of *unenterprise hung over the land.
1877M. Collins Sweet & Twenty i. xi, The *unfragrance of money adheres to him.
1889Pall Mall G. 25 Mar. 2/3 The palpable *unfrankness of the addendum.
1897St. L. Strachey From Grave to Gay 288 We can keep the *unfreshness of our eggs to ourselves, but not so the unfreshness of our jokes. 1969J. Cheever Bullet Park vi. 79 She..exhaled the faint unfreshness of humanity at the end of the day.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick (U.S. ed.) lxxxi. 397 Oh! that *unfulfilments should follow the prophets. 1881‘L. Malet’ Counsel of Perfection xiv. 323 There is a wonderful compensation in the un⁓fulfilment of prophecy. 1978F. King Action ii. 12 The pathos of his unfulfilment.
1958Economist 26 July 277 He has probably had to contend..also with the poor pay offered and the *unglamorousness of the whole proceeding.
1886Encycl. Brit. XX. 610/1 A more curious instance of *ungreediness for pelf than earlier cases which we have cited.
a1960E. M. Forster Maurice (1971) xlvi. 226 Excuse me if I work at *unimportancies for a bit now.
1852De Morgan in Graves Life Sir W.R. Hamilton (1889) III. 418 A unanimous *uninfallibility would be just as drowsy a dormitory as an infallible Church.
1930G. B. Shaw Philanderer Pref., in Works VII. 68 That far more numerous body which may be called the *Unintelligentsia was as unconscious of Ibsen as of any other political influence.
1964R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics v. 211 The unitary behaviour of such forms in sentences and their *uninterruptability..are the grounds for ascribing single word status to them.
1966Punch 2 Nov. 682/2 He remains an aloof catalyst. Yet his very *uninvolvement has a value of its own.
1796W. H. Marshall W. England II. 16 The roads, their *unlevelness apart, are among the best in the kingdom.
a1973J. R. R. Tolkien Silmarillion (1977) viii. 74 A cloak of darkness she wove about them..an *Unlight, in which things seemed to be no more, and which eyes could not pierce, for it was void.
1843Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 40/1 A property almost peculiar to wrought iron, namely its all but *unmeltableness.
1970New Scientist 31 Dec. 586/2 Large families are not the prerogative of the feckless poor whether in the Third World or in the urban ghettoes of the *unmeritocracy.
1847H. Bushnell Chr. Nurt. iii. (1861) 65 The ostrich is nature's type of all *unmotherhood.
1879G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie xii, The earthly hitherto—the final obstacle of *unobstancy.
1862Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. II. xv. 225 Cyril was looking on... His *unoccupation caught the Quaker's eye.
1884Harper's Mag. June 73/2 The most..commendable feature of the charity is its privacy and *unostentation.
1877Blackmore Cripps II. ii. 23 Every single fall or rise of nature's work..led her into various veins of inductive *unphilosophy.
1955S. Spender Making of Poem 75 There are standards of sensibility or of ‘*unpriggishness’ which are a development of what Samuel Butler approvingly called ‘being a nice person’.
1866Pall Mall G. 12 May 12 Gaze down into the future upon the hateful Land of *Unpromise.
1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) II. 140 The publicity or *unpublicity of the process.
1883E. Clodd in Knowl. 15 June 352/2 The *unrelation between religion and formulated theology.
1873Mrs. Whitney Other Girls xxviii, The old story of worry, discontent, *unreliance, disruption.
1868J. H. Newman Verses on Various Occasions 312 The prison where they roam in hopeless *unrepose. 1954W. Faulkner Fable 343 Thicker and denser than the stars in its concentration of anguish and unrepose.
1868Edin. Rev. Apr. 435 Making due allowance..for a considerable amount of *unrepresentation on the part of our manufacturers.
1853Faber All for Jesus 163 Anything like *unrespectability has been so completely avoided.
1825Hogg Queen Hynde 104 To veil *unsanctitude within.
1865W. G. Palgrave Arabia II. 230 An event followed by much confusion, shouting, and awkward *unseamanship.
c1843Carlyle Hist. Sk. Jas. I & Chas. I (1898) 269 The English noses in their shapes and *unshapes.
1872H. Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. 335 What kind of *unsociety we suffer when we have about us only persons very unequal.
1881G. S. Hall German Cult. 230 The very possibility of *unspaciality or punctuality.
1878J. W. Reynolds Supernat. in Nat. (1883) 109 Making stuff pass from a no sort of *unstickingness into some sort of holding-togetherness.
1872Howells Wedding Journ. (1892) 296 The young girls..had the true touch of provincial *unstylishness.
1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) I. 293 Suggestedness and *unsuggestedness.
1932W. Faulkner Light in August xvii. 371 He seemed to stand aloof,..thinking with a kind of grim *unsurprise: ‘Byron Bunch borning a baby.’ 1955W. Gaddis Recognitions ii. iii. 393 A, M, D, G, sequence of unsurprise (Lao-tse's 84-year gestation), right Nicodemus?
1846G. S. Faber Lett. Tractar. Secess. 271 To flounder in all the comfortless *untenacity of an ever-shifting quicksand.
1886W. J. Amherst Hist. Cath. Emanc. I. 271 Ireland's *ununanimity—if I may coin an expression—is England's opportunity.
1864Ruskin in Daily Tel. 28 Oct., Intrinsic value or goodness in some things, and..intrinsic *unvalue or badness in other things.
1937Nature 26 June 1107/2 The *unwettability of natural cotton is generally ascribed to the existence of a film of wax or oil covering its outer surface.
b. The prefixing of un- to nouns used attributively is rare and usually not intended seriously.
1673Penn The Chr. a Quaker i. Wks. (1726) 523 The Unchange-Gospel-Rule to Believers. 1771Lady M. Coke Jrnl. 13 Aug., The reason of the discontent of the unquality Ladys is that they were laugh'd at by the great Ladys. 1823Byron Age of Bronze xiv, Alas, the country! how shall tongue or pen Bewail her now uncountry gentlemen? 1852S. R. Maitland Eight Ess. 236 It was a whim of the artist to sketch his subject in that occasional, uncompany costume. 1880Spectator 3 Jan. 9/2 Single women, widows, and unbusiness men, are those on whom the blow chiefly fell.
Other examples are uncurrency-style (1852), undining-room (1845), unhousehold-name (1894), unsociety-people (1898).
13. In OE. there are a few instances of un- with verbal substantives in -ung, as unbletsung, -brosnung, unmeltung, etc. None of these survive in ME., and new forms in -ing are rare; untiming occurs c 1250, uncunning c 1300, unknowing, unpunishing c 1340. In the later language the usage also remains rare, and in nearly all verbal ns. the prefix un- is un-2; a few exceptions are recorded here.
1538Elyot, Insolentia,..vnhauntinge of a place. 1598Florio, Insepoltura, the vnburying of one. Ibid., Ingenerabilita, vnbegetting, ingenerabilitie. 1611Florio, Inconniuenza, an vnmoouing or not twinkling of the eies. 1853R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour iii, His sellings and his returning, his lettings and his unlettings. 1886M. Linskill Haven under Hill lxii, The great beauty which had been to Ermengarde Salvain as a hurt and an unblessing. 1887Daily Tel. 20 Dec. (Cassell's), Why was this unowning of the plays necessary? 1930Auden Poems 8 Unforgetting is not today's forgetting For yesterday.
14. In OE. the use of un- with verbs is limited to formations from negative adjectives, as unclǽnsian, unrótsian, untrumian from unclǽne, unrót, untrum. (More commonly ᵹe- is prefixed, as in ᵹeunclǽnsian, ᵹeunrétan, etc.) This type barely survived in ME., but un- began to be sparingly prefixed to ordinary verbs, as untrowen (a 1200) to disbelieve, untrusten (a 1225) to distrust, unbetide not to happen, unbe not to be, and similar formations are fairly common in the 16–17th c., as unbecome, unbefit, unbelieve, unbeseem, uncomprehend, unconcern, etc. Many of these are obviously suggested by the participial adjectives (unbecoming, etc.), which are quite regular in formation (see 10 above). The type is now rare, but occasional examples occur.
Recent formations include: (nonce-wds.) unbloom, undie, unfulfil, untouch, unvision.
a1175Twelfth Cent. Hom. 118 Swa mucele swiðor him biteriæð & unswetiæþ alle þas eorðlice þing. c1205Lay. 11547 Vnhæle & ælde hæueð þene king vnbalded [c 1275 onbalded]. Ibid. 15037 Þa þat folc was icumen, þa was þe king swiðe untrumed [c 1275 ontromed]. a1300Maximian 65 (MS. Digby 86), Forþi min herte keldeþ And mi bodi ounbeldeþ.
1898Hardy Wessex Poems 8 And why unblooms the best hope ever sown? 1952Dylan Thomas Coll. Poems p. x, These seathumbed leaves That will fly and fall Like leaves of trees and as soon Crumble and undie.
1922Hardy Late Lyrics & Earlier 37 Though duties due that press to do This whole long day I unfulfil.
1843E. Jones Poems, Sens. & Event 71 But the world unrecognized his visions of goodness. 1884R. Churchill in Pall Mall G. 11 Aug. 10/1 This measure..which, instead of improving the representation of the people, would only fatally unrepresent the people.
1922Hardy Late Lyrics & Earlier 34 And time untouched me with a trace Of soul-smart or despair.
1917― Moments of Vision 207 I'll not unvision A shape which, somehow, there may be.
1902St. James's Gaz. 31 Dec. 12/2 On the ground that the state of trade absolutely unwarrants it.
15. By confusion of thought, un- is sometimes used redundantly, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, where a positive term is really intended. For examples see undated (1637), undifference (1654), undifferency (1583).
16. In telegrams un- is sometimes used in nonce formations with any part of speech to avoid a separate negative.
1936E. Waugh Waugh in Abyssinia 161 Cables were soon arriving... ‘Require earliest name life story photograph American nurse upblown [sc. bombed] Adowa.’ We replied ‘Nurse unupblown,’ and after a few days she disappeared from the news. 1967Observer 8 Oct. 2/5 Regret expelled by Syrians after twenty-four hours unreason given. 1968Punch 3 Apr. 485/3 All those compound words like ‘unproceed’..in press cables.
Add:[8.] [a.] (c) undynamized (see *dynamize v. b).
1971S. & L. Tutt Private Pension Scheme Finance x. 264 A single contracting-out system was suggested and this was to have been *undynamized. 1987English Today July 29/3 By 1969, the Department of Health and Social Security had taken up the terms for use in White Papers, where one finds, in addition.., an undynamised abatement system.
▪ II. un-, prefix2
expressing reversal or deprivation, representing OE. un-, on-, = OFris. und-, unt-, un-, ond-, ont-, on-, MDu. and Du. ont-, OS. ant-, OHG. ant-, int- (MHG. and G. ent-), Goth. and-, originally identical with and- prefix.
2. a. From OE. more than a score of reversive verbs formed with un- (or its variant on-) are recorded, as unbindan, uncnyttan, undón, unfealdan, ungyrdan, unhelian, unlúcan, etc. Some of these were in common use; others occur rarely or in single instances. About half of the number (including all those mentioned above) survived in ME., and various new formations appear in texts from the first half of the 13th century, as unbenden, undytten, unfast(n)en, unhaspen, unhillen, unlimen, unmensken, unsteken; even at that date the prefix is used with verbs which are not of native origin. Similar formations from later ME. are unbuckle, uncatch, unclench, uncover, unfetter, unkevel, unsew, unshut, unwrap, unyoke. The following are examples of obsolete ME. forms:—unˈhadien [OE. unhádian], to deprive of ecclesiastical orders; unˈmensken [f. mensk v.], to dishonour; unˈrone [f. rone v.], to make desolate; hence unˈroningness; unˈteon [f. teon tee v.1 6 b], to fall apart.
c1205Lay. 13169 Buten he him plihte þæt he wolden vorð rihtes *vnhadien [v.r. onhodi] Costanz. Ibid. 13174 Þar he vnhadede his broðer.
a1200St. Marher. 14 Heanlunges makeð ham wið heouenlich hirð ant *unmenskeð hamseolf bimong eorðlich men.
a1300E.E. Psalter lxxviii. 7 For þai ete Jacob ilka lim, And *vnroned þe stede of him. Ibid. lxxii. 19 Hou ere þai made in vnronyngnesse!
a1310in Wright Lyric P. 101 The fleyhs shal rotie from the bon, The senewes *untuen everuchon.
b. In the 16th century new formations with un- become very numerous and varied, and in the 17th the prefix is used with much greater freedom than is now possible. The lexicographers Florio and Cotgrave constantly employ it in rendering Italian words in dis- and s- and French words in de-, des-. By this time the prefix had developed several variations of sense which are still current, and are illustrated by modern examples in the following sections.
3. In OE. most of the forms with un- have for their second part a simple verb, either strong (as unbindan, unfealdan, unlúcan, etc.) or weak (as uncnyttan, undón, unᵹierwan, ungyrdan, etc.). In either case the prefix denotes a simple reversal of the action of the verb. Many of the new formations in ME. are of the same type, as unbend, unclench, uncover, unfasten, unhasp, unhide, unshut, etc., and additions to this class continue to be freely made at all subsequent periods. In addition to the numerous examples entered as main words, many others have been casually employed, similar to those here illustrated.
Florio and Cotgrave make extensive use of this type, e.g. unastony, unbrand, uncancel, unclumse, unclutter, uncompass, uncurd, unfester, unflow, etc. Ash gives unbaste, unmoble, unsolder, unsort, etc.
Recent formations include: unbake, unban, unbatten, unbore, unclutter, undip [dip v. 6 d], unendear, uninvent, unjumble, untape, untease.
1865Sat. Rev. 9 Sept. 330/2 A boisterous English captain..annexed them for a few weeks, and then had to *unannex them.
1864G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 15 Wasteful wide huge-girthèd Nile *Unbakes my pores, and streams, and makes all fresh.
1968Guardian 5 Sept. 9/2 Book censorship has eased since the Dail passed a law which *un-bans a book after 12 years in purdah. 1983Bookseller 4 June 2072/3 Lady Chatterley's Lover: unbanned in South Africa in 1980, it has been selling through Leserskring at a steady 1,000 a quarter.
1788W. Bligh in R. M. Bowker Mutiny (1978) iii. 90 *Unbattened all the Hatchways. 1927R. A. Freeman Certain Dr. Thorndyke iv. 62 Osmond..unbattened the doors, and, opening them, slid the wriggling captive down the ladder on to the cabin floor.
1838[Mrs. Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 223 You had betrayed his intention... You tried to *un-betray it afterwards,..but in vain.
1922M. A. von Arnim Enchanted April xiii. 213 Rose felt right down at her very roots that if you have once thoroughly bored somebody it is next to impossible to *unbore him.
1862De Morgan in Graves Life Sir W.R. Hamilton (1889) III. 576 My belief is, that if you call h and k differentials, the community..will *uncall them.
1774Monody Death Goldsmith 13 G.'s Wks. (1816) p. li, Thus some magician..*Uncears the pond'rous tombs.
1886Pall Mall G. 22 Dec. 2/2 When he has changed his mind no power on earth can induce him to *unchange it.
1888J. C. Ambrose in Union Signal (Chicago) 19 Apr., The first hard work..on butter is to *unchurn it.
1891M. Cole Cy Ross 12 Pull up for the night, *uncinch the packs.
1859Semple Diphtheria 316 Is this leading circumstance..sufficient to make us *unclassify this disease?
1930Times 29 Nov. 13/6 Sadler's Wells..appears to go farthest in *uncluttering the conditions for witnessing the performance. 1977A. Scholefield Venom iii. 90 He liked to clear everything away, to unclutter the stage.
1851W. R. Greg Creed of Christendom xvi. 268 That everything done is done irrevocably—that even the Omnipotence of God cannot *uncommit a deed.
1860Trollope Framley P. xvii, Do no such thing, or you may too probably have to *uncongratulate me again.
1775Ash, *Uncrook.., to reduce from crookedness. 1868E. Yates Rocks Ahead iii. vii, I could hardly uncrook your fingers.
1966T. Wisdom High-Performance Driving x. 104 Drivers..use their headlights badly. They do not *undip them fast enough after meeting other traffic.
1885S. Tromholt Aurora Borealis II. 20 She looked as if she had never *undonned her funny garb since I saw her last.
1865G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 21 Still thou bind'st me to fresh fealty..for nothing here Nor elsewhere can thy sweetness *unendear.
1825Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 288 To break this sensual charm, to *unfascinate these bedazzled brethren.
1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 527 To unthink their present thoughts and *unfeel their present feelings!
1862[W. Cooper] Yacht Sailor xi. 142 The only perfect self acting fid I ever saw..‘fids’ and ‘*unfids’ itself.
1873R. Broughton Nancy II. 241, I have my flax hair..curled, plaited, frizzed, and again *unfrizzed.
1891Zangwill Bachelor's Club 35 His brow began to *un⁓furrow itself.
1883Century Mag. Oct. 946/2 We could see them all busy *ungriping their lee boat.
1896E. Berdoe Browning & Chr. Faith 180 It is not in him to *unhate his hates.
1889Blackw. Mag. Oct. 456 It was unprecedented that..a weak hysterical subject should, after being *unhypnotised, remain so long in prostrate exhaustion.
1844Noad Electricity (ed. 2) 69 *Uninsulating the ball, insulating it, and then observing what change it had acquired.
1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab., *Uninterleave, to withdraw the sheets which have been placed between printed work to prevent set-off.
1962Guardian 4 Oct. 6/5 It may not be possible to *un-invent the motor-car. 1982Church Times 22 Oct. 5/1 Nuclear weapons cannot be uninvented.
1839J. Sterling Ess. & T. (1848) I. 327 Self is thus..dis-individualized, *unisolated, rather universalized and idealized.
1775Ash, *Unjamb,..to free from a pressure between two bodies. 1900Daily News 7 Mar. 8/7 The gun..jammed less than any other machine gun, and could be easily unjammed.
1966J. Derrick Teaching English to Immigrants v. 206 Pupils can also be asked to *unjumble and write out in correct order a series of sentences that should obviously follow a certain sequence (such as the description of a picture story or of a series of actions). 1979J. Gardner Nostradamus Traitor xliii. 204 He's the bloody expert on Nostradamus. He's even..unjumbled the prophecies.
1888Lees & Clutterbuck B.C. xxviii. (1892) 314 Presently..the monster had *unkilled himself..and swam happily away.
1611Florio, Dismentire, to *vnlie. 1882Ch. Times 10 Feb. 83 It is hardly necessary to ‘unlie’ the insinuation, as the French would say.
1845P. Parley's Ann. VI. 361 How long it took to *unmat their hair.
1887Pall Mall G. 19 Oct. 2/1 To *un⁓mesmerize all those Christians whom the devil has mesmerized.
1809Ann. Reg., Chron. 339/2 For heaven's sake, do not be *unmodelling my accounts again.
1817Pettigrew Mem. Lettsom II. 230 Let any person..*unprejudice his mind.
1844Whewell in Life (1881) 308 Having puzzled and *unpuzzled myself.
1889Saintsbury Ess. Eng. Lit. (1891) 31 You could play on Crabbe that odd trick..and *unrhyme him.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., *Unslour, to unlock, unfasten, or unbutton.
1860Nares Seamanship 112 *Unsnatch and shift the mast rope.
1887in Prothero Life of Bradshaw (1888) 78 Some one ‘*unsported’ him with a dinner-knife.
1833Fraser's Mag. VIII. 309 It *unsquatted the incubus which so long oppressed me.
1856J. Strang Glasgow & Clubs 395 To *unswing a golden fleece was a common trick.
1968‘R. Macdonald’ Instant Enemy xxxiv. 217 He *untaped my wrists and ankles. 1981E. Ward Baltic Emerald xxi. 175 Henry untaped the envelope and photographs from my back.
1932Auden in Rev. Eng. Stud. (1978) Aug. 287 A piece of paper, neatly Folded in a hexagon shape Which Sampson took and *unteased and read.
1869Abbot Shaks. Gram. Pref., So far from training we are *untraining our understanding.
1896Globe 19 Dec. 1/4 It would have been as easy to take the stripes as to *unwhip those boys.
4. a. A small number of OE. verbs in un- imply removal or deprivation; these end in -ian, as unhádian to deprive of orders, unhlidian to remove the lid from, uninseᵹlian to unseal, unscóᵹian to unshoe. In ME. the type remains rare, but occurs in unclead, unclothe, unhair. At a later date it becomes more frequent, and is common in modern use.
Florio is especially lavish in new formations which have not obtained subsequent currency, as unblossom, unbrain, unbridge, uncheek, uncheese, uncorn, uncorner, unflank, unfringe, ungarland, etc.
Recent formations include: unblouse, undogcollar (nonce), unpearl (nonce).
1882R. G. Ingersoll, etc. Chr. Relig. 44 Cradles would be robbed, and women's breasts *unbabed.
1922Joyce Ulysses 254 Miss bronze *unbloused her neck.
1798Ferriar Illustr. Sterne i. 8 In like manner, *unbolster Falstaff and his wit will affect us less.
1836T. Hook G. Gurney II. 260, I found the task of ‘*unbooting’ one of much greater difficulty than I had anticipated.
1886Pall Mall G. 2 Dec. 6 A native *unbraceleting or ungartering himself.
1611Cotgr., Desbrodequiner, to *vnbuskin; to plucke, or draw, off buskins. 1831Soc. Life Eng. & France 198 Some subsequent attempts to unbuskin tragedy.
1611Cotgr., Escremé, *vncreamed. 1886Pall Mall G. 28 Sept. 11/2 Adulterated or uncreamed..milk.
1826Beddoes Let. to B. Procter Poems (1851) 170 To rob him,—to *uncypress him in the light—To unmask all his secrets.
1874S. Lanier Poems, Corn 190 Discrowned, *undaughtered, and alone.
1846Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. I. 144/2 The chalice of poison,..by which their own hands were..*undirked, and paralysed.
1953Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1954) 74 Esau,..*undogcollared because of his little weakness, was scythed to the bone one harvest by mistake.
1855Bailey Mystic, etc. 127 He, to his fate divine, *uneyes himself in vain.
1878J. W. Reynolds Supernat. in Nat. (1880) 4 To *unfaith men takes from them everything which can preserve from evil and lead to good.
1859Sala Gas-light & D. v. 62 He would..run down the doomed legislator.., and..*unfrank him on the spot.
1829Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 84 That the man..who goes to bed a freeholder, does not wake *un⁓freeholded on the morrow.
1791Lady Hamilton in Gamlin Romney (1894) 223 The little picture with the black hat. I wish you would *unfrill it.
1897F. Thompson Sel. Poems 125 She..Her hand *ungauntlets in mild amity.
1861Temple Bar Mag. III. 197 A hand of light *Unjewelleth the robe of night.
1821Sporting Mag. IX. 51 Both were *unmettled by fast work.
1936A. E. Housman More Poems 18 For these of old the trader *Unpearled the Indian seas.
1804Larwood No Gun Boats 10 Let England *unpoignard her Dwarf Assassins.
1852R. Redgrave in Life iv. (1891) 83 Here we were disrobed and *unsashed.
1888‘B. Cane’ Haunted Tower 307 He had *unspiled the water-cask.
1865Wilberforce in Life (1882) III. 189 If he did not *unsurplice his choir and degrade his service to their Dissenting level.
1839Hood Lines to Friend at Cobham iii, Of hen and cock you'll have a stock, And death will oft *unthrob 'em.
1808E. S. Barrett Miss-led General 69 We must either embowel them, or they will *untripe us.
1889Talmage Serm. 28 Apr., God is not dead. The chariots are *unwheeled.
b. A modification of this sense is that of freeing or releasing from something. This appears in ME. in unfetter, unkevel, unyoke, although in origin these may be simply reversive. In the later period the type has also become common, and is very largely represented from the close of the 16th century.
Florio and Cotgrave afford numerous examples, as unbarb, unbit, unbunch, unchaff, uncrupper, ungravel, unhunger, etc.
1899T. S. Moore Vinedresser 74 His sword fell noisy to the ground While he *unbrooched his cloak.
1888F. H. Stoddard in Andover Rev. Oct., [Matthew] Arnold has *un-Coleridged criticism.
1839in Marindin Lett. Ld. Blachford (1896) 57, I can't fancy any more magnificent practice for a fidgety person who wanted to be *unfidgeted.
1839Bailey Festus 118 When heaven's light Pours itself on the page,..*unglooming all its mighty meanings.
1868Earl Clarendon in Life & Lett. (1913) II. xxiii. 355, I wish he were *unhandcuffed from the party with which he can have no sympathy.
1881Cheq. Career 335 *Unhobble the spare horses.
1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab., *Unlead, to take out the leads from leaded matter.
1814Scott Wav. lvi, *Unplaid yourself on the first opportunity.
1840R. H. Horne Gregory VII, iv. v. 74 It is his change That hath *unscarfed mine eyes.
1800Naval Chron. IV. 523 The labourers..*unshored the St. Joseph..in the great dock.
1878A. H. Markham Gt. Frozen Sea xviii. 257 ‘Woolwich’ was also ‘*unsnowed’.
1832Regul. & Instr. Cavalry ii. 43 The men..strap and *unswivel their carbines.
a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 387 If it is impracticable to accomplish both, the oats should be left *unthistled rather than the barley.
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 280 To devote the rest of his evening..to *unthorning himself.
1845T. W. Coit Puritanism 237 *Untrammeling human opinion and human will.
1815T. Shuffleton Amat. Wks. 116 *Unzone the veil! produce the prize Which long has charm'd my roving eyes! 1907Joyce Chamber Music xi, Begin thou softly to unzone Thy girlish bosom into him.
5. a. The use of un- to denote the removal or extraction (forcibly or otherwise) of a person or thing from a place or receptacle occurs in the 14th cent. in unhouse, and later in unbody, unearth, but does not become prominent till the beginning of the 17th, when Florio and Cotgrave afford many examples. In a few instances the sense passes into that of releasing or setting free from confinement, as in uncage, or of revealing to others, as in unbosom.
Among the instances occurring in Florio and Cotgrave are unaerie, unbench, unborough, unbrake, unbranch, unchamber, unchest, unfurnace, etc.
1865E. Burritt Walk to Land's End 375 Then he *un⁓basketed our dinner.
1897Outing XXIX. 491/1 The request that a number of soldiers be sent back to *unbog the wagon.
1822W. Tennant Thane of Fife vi. xxiii, He..had *uncav'd his jars to heave their spirits up.
1883H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. i. (1884) 30 To do that, and rest in the contemplation, it has first to *uncentury itself.
1859Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 228, I fear the awful committee that..can *unclub a man for a few idle words inadvertently spoken.
1929W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 235, I went on to the back, where old Job was *uncrating them [sc. cultivators]. 1963Ann. Reg. 1962 520 In addition, jet bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, are now being uncrated and assembled on Cuba.
1870T. W. Higginson Army Life 195 She shouted with delight at being suddenly *un⁓cribbed and thrust into her little scarlet cloak.
1851G. W. Curtis Nile Notes xxv. 112 The cavalcade was magically *undonkeyed, the savages..tumbled off, while their beasts were yet in full motion.
1888Public Opinion 29 June 811 Hearing that a mammoth had been unearthed, or rather *uniced, near the mouth of the Lena.
1883Daily News 18 Sept. 3/3 Until the furniture and other articles..stored hastily..have been *unstored and examined.
1846Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. II. 45/1 All her wars for six hundred years have not done this; and the first trumpet will *untrance her.
1884Law Rep. 12 Chanc. Div. 631 No offence was committed until the pigs were *untrucked, and the appellants had..no part in untrucking them.
b. In some formations belonging to this type un- is prefixed to a word either denoting the thing removed or the action of removal; in the latter case the sense of the prefix passes into that of out. Examples of these uses are:—
1598Florio, Sbacciellare,..to vngraine, or take out of the cods. 1611Cotgr., Escerner, to vnkernell; to take or cut a thing cleane out of the round place wherein it was. 1877Talmage Serm. 316 He it is who undirks the lightning from the storm cloud.
6. In OE. the fact or process of depriving a person or thing of a certain quality or property was not expressed by the reversive un-, but by verbal formations based on adjectives already having the negative prefix (see un-1 14). Unable, appearing towards the end of the 14th cent., may still belong to this type, but from the middle of the 16th century forms become frequent in which the prefix is clearly the reversive un- , employed both with adjs. and ns. Both types are largely represented in Florio, and to a less extent in Cotgrave.
a. When the formation has an adjectival base, the adjective may be used in its simple form, or with the suffix -en.
Examples from Florio and Cotgr. of the simple adj. form are unbald, unbig, uncorrect, undizzy, ungiddy, unhoar, etc.; and of forms in -en, unfatten, ungreaten, unmoisten, unsharpen, unthicken, unweaken.
1888Ruskin in Pall Mall G. 27 Oct. 5/2 Rosalind is extremely glad to get her face *unbrowned again.
1893Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 10 Sept., They found..the shops ill-regulated and the Frenchmen *un-Frenched.
1827Hare Guesses (1859) 488 You may abuse and misuse: you cannot *ungood.
1747E. Poston Pratler I. 223 Thy Brother..almost had the Name undone, And almost did *ungrand it.
1825Southey Let. to Mrs. S. 7 July, Freshmen are called greens, and a ceremony was (and perhaps is) used in *un⁓greening them.
1827O'Connell Let. in Daily News 17 Dec. (1888) 3/6, I will *un-Orange Ireland.
1887Browning Parleyings, F. Furini i, Straight your bag *Unplumped itself.
1826Scott 19 Mar. in Croker Papers, If you *un⁓scotch us you will find us damned mischievous Englishmen.
b. Substantives are similarly employed without ending.
Florio has a number of examples, as unbride, uncitizen, uncoward, undoctor, undwarf, etc. Casual formations are frequently employed by Fuller, as uncardinal, unchaplain, uncity, unmartyr, etc.
1867Sir J. Y. Simpson in Duns Mem. xiv. (1873) 482 Often I wish I could *unbaronet myself.
1839J. D. Coleridge in Life Ld. Coleridge (1904) I. 71 Herman Merivale *unbeared himself for five minutes.
1800Mackintosh in R. Hall's Wks. (1832) VI. 129 They ought not to *uncitizen Tom Paine.
1797A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) V. 94 Recollections, unsupported by proofs, could neither *uncountess her nor rob her of the adoration her beauty excited.
1876*Unfather [see unchild v.].
1857Heavysege Saul (1869) 145 It me *unfiends to see and listen to him.
1860Reade 8th Commandm. 24 It would be ‘nefas’ to *ungenius our geniuses.
1889Talmage Serm. in Voice (N.Y.) 31 Oct., Every day there are Samsons *ungianted.
1870C. W. Collins Anc. Classics for Eng. Readers, Virg. 182 An occasional burst of tears on æneas's part would not have *unheroed him in our estimation one whit.
1839J. Rogers Antipopopr. i. §7. 87 They unavoidably fancy all other kirks to be no real or right kirks at all, *unkirking them.
1860Milman in Archaeol. XXXVIII. 22 The remedy applicable to the condition of the Marches of Mercia and Wales was..to reduce and, so far, *unmarch them.
1865J. Grote Explor. Philos. i. 229 This..is described first as seeing nature in masquerade, and then as *unmasquerading her.
1877E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 408 Thence I lately took down Mr. Lowell's (I have proposed to *un⁓mister him too), Lowell's Essays.
1870C. Reade Put yourself in his Place I. v. 68 The hair, not in ropes—yet not so as to cord the mass, and *unsatin it quite.
1890Chamb. Jrnl. 21 June 387/2 To break her spirit, and *un⁓shrew her into somebody's very humble servant.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 75 Our Watch would without more ado be utterly *unwatcht.
c. From ns. (rarely from adjs.) there are numerous formations in -(i)fy, and from both ns. and adjs. in -ize. Other endings, as -ate, are less usual.
(a)
1857Dufferin Lett. High Lat. viii. 201 The idea of fog and ice in the month of June seemed so completely to *uncockneyfy us.
1834Southey Doctor vi. (1848) 107 Unipsefying and *unegofying the Ipsissimus Ego.
1837Darwin in Life (1887) I. 282, I think my silicified wood has *unflintified Mr. Brown's heart.
1882Sala Amer. Revis. (1883) 241 A city on a scale of vastness which Sesostris, could he ‘*unmummify’ himself, might admire.
1866Ruskin Eth. Dust 36 What will you gain by *unpersonifying it?
1858Faber Foot of Cross (1872) 231 Why should she stay her devotion, or *unsimplify her worship?
(b)
1883American VII. 117 Foreign interests and alien population tend to *un-Americanize the place.
1895Spectator 23 Nov. 731 The author scarcely deserves to be *unanonymised.
1860Reade 8th Commandm. 335 A noble international measure that..would have done much to *unbohemianize writers.
1891W. S. Lilly Shibboleths 186 A certain number of the clergy..wished to *unclericalize themselves.
1876N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 255 Its consequence was to *undemocratize the Democratic party.
1871Proctor Light Science 338 To pluralize some of the objects,..to *un⁓dualize others.
1870Standard 24 Nov., If the *unequalising process is to be carried any further.
1882St. James' Gaz. 29 Mar. 3/1 We are invited to view..the Fenians *un⁓fenianized.
1830Pusey Hist. Enq. ii. 392 The great body, which their excellent predecessors had endeavoured to *un⁓formularize.
1898Bodley France I. i. i. 67 German intermarriages have *un-gallicised the Swedish dynasty.
1852Bristed Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 343 Unmanning and *un-gentlemanizing themselves to any extent.
1898Bodley France I. i. iv. 222 As for the Alsacians, France took little pains to *un-germanize them.
1853Blackw. Mag. LXXIV. 101 A hero, with out-staring eyes,..is sadly *unheroised.
a1876H. Martineau Autobiog. (1877) II. 287 Let us *un⁓individualize ourselves.
1875Shalders tr. Godet's Comm. Luke I. 386 Jesus desired..to reclaim the people, and prevent their being still more *unjudaized.
1862De Morgan in Graves Life Sir W.R. Hamilton (1889) III. 571 He had..to back out of infinitesimals, in order to *unleibnitize his system.
1874H. Bushnell Forgiveness & Law iv. 222 To *unlocalize, universalize, and make victorious the great salvation.
1838G. S. Faber Inquiry 48 The paradoxical vineyard of *unmanicheanised Manichèism.
1884Stoughton Relig. in Eng. I. 337 How could it, without *un⁓methodising Methodism?
1833R. H. Froude Rem. (1838) I. 332 To..un-Protestantise, *un-Miltonise them.
1885Masson Carlyle ii. 71 Mystics he could make nothing of except by *unmysticising them.
1833Blackw. Mag. XXXIV. 540 Such a taste is there to vulgarize, to *unpoetize nature.
1852Smedley L. Arundel xxix. 218 It will take me longer to *unpuppyise myself than I was aware of.
1889Times 23 Feb. 7/1 His great anxiety was to *unradicalize himself.
1842Blackw. Mag. LI. 163 The effect produced,..was, if the expression may be allowed, to *unrevelationize revelation.
1852C. Wordsworth Occas. Serm. IV. 14 England romanized Ireland: and England ought to *un⁓romanize it.
1885Cornh. Mag. Mar. 271 Some of the chaunting was rather fine, but the orchestral accompaniment was decidedly *unsolemnising.
1899R. Wallace Geo. Buchanan iv. 70 Had he been all his detractors call him, that would not have *unstoicized him.
1854Faber Growth in Holiness x. (1872) 163 Human respect *unsupernaturalizes actions which are good in substance.
1852Lewis Meth. Observ. & Reas. in Pol. I. 96 There are numerous influences at work to *untechnicalize it.
1873J. Skinner Let. in Life xvi. (1884) 318 Those mad attempts to *untheologize (if I may coin a word) the language of theology.
7. With rare exceptions, the OE. verbs in un- are transitive, and this has always remained the prevailing use. In ME., however, intransitive uses of some common words are found, as unbend, unclose, unlouk, and in casual formations as unbody. In the later language the usage increases to some extent (as in unfold, etc.), but is chiefly confined to words having some currency.
Florio employs unday, undebt, undroop, unsicken, unswell. The following are rare modern instances.
1816Colman Br. Grins, Champernoune ii, His courtiers swore..They'd broil a pope to keep a place, So all un⁓papalized apace. 1831E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son II. 113 Look at him, he is unturbaning! 1862Helps Org. Daily Life 108 The organization grinds on,..and it is very difficult to make the thing ungrind. 1922Joyce Ulysses 461 The Timepiece (Unportalling.) Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Cuckoo.
8. Verbal substantives, participial adjectives, and agent-nouns are naturally formed from verbs in un- as from simple verbs. These forms begin to appear in the 14th century, and become common in the later language.
Many of the past pples. and ppl. adjs., as unbent, unbound, undressed, unfastened, etc., coincide with formations in which the prefix is un-1, and the distinction in meaning is not always sufficiently clear to admit of an absolute separation between the forms. Either prefix is normally unstressed in all participial formations used predicatively, but commonly receives the main stress when employed attributively, as an ˈunbent bow, an ˈunbound book.
9. The redundant use of un- is rare, but occurs in OE. unlíesan, and ME. unloose, which has succeeded in maintaining itself. Later instances are unbare, unsolve, unstrip (16–17th cent.), and the modern dialect forms unempt(y), unrid, unthaw (also locally uneave). Another redundant or extended use (= ‘peel off’) exists in unpeel v.
For occasional misuses of un- see unloaden, unranked. |