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unaˈccountable, a. and n.
[un-1 7 b, 5 b.]
A. adj.
1. a. That cannot be accounted for or explained; inexplicable. Also absol.
1643Milton Divorce ii. xxi. Wks. 1851 IV. 120 The unaccountable and secret reasons of disaffection between man and wife. 1689[see unaccounted 2]. 1709Addison Tatler No. 123 ⁋7 Those unaccountable Antipathies which some Persons are born with. 1776Dalrymple Ann. Scot. I. 9 To this hardy atchievement, an unaccountable inactivity succeeded. 1834Lytton Pompeii i. v. 25 A sudden and unaccountable gloom came over each as they thus gazed. 1871Tylor Prim. Cult. I. 4 Where events look unaccountable,..to wait and watch in hope that the key to the problem may some day be found. 1895Mrs. Wilson 5 Years India 281 The Hindu accounts for the unaccountable by calling it divine.
b. Of persons: Difficult to account for or make out; of a strange or puzzling disposition.
1711Addison Spect. No. 1 ⁋4, I..left the University, with the Character of an odd unaccountable Fellow, that had a great deal of Learning, if I would but show it. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 329 Indeed, Mr. Lovelace, you are a very unaccountable man. 1774Foote Cozeners ii. Wks. 1799 II. 161 The family above..are a strange unaccountable tribe: Pray, who the deuce are they? 1801M. Edgeworth Moral T., Angelina i, A self-willed, unaccountable romantic girl. 1873‘Ouida’ Pascarel II. 240 We Italians are an unaccountable people.
2. Not liable to be called to account; irresponsible:
a. Of power, etc.
1649Milton Eikon. xi. Wks. 1851 III. 420 Hee met at first with Doctrines of unaccountable Prerogative; in them hee rested, because they pleas'd him. 1695J. Sage Cyprianic Age 67 The Acknowledgment of his Supream and Unaccountable Power within his own District. 1724R. Fiddes Morality Pref. p. lxxxiii, If man had an unaccountable power..a single tyrant..might lawfully destroy all the rest. 1736Gentl. Mag. VI. 303/2 They have never since made any Demand for the Deficiencies; not that We are to suppose that it is supply'd by the Revenue's being unaccountable. 1861Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. viii. 105 Each estate should have powers independent of all the others, and in the exercise of which it is unaccountable and supreme.
b. Of persons, etc.
1677Spottiswood's Hist. Ch. Scot. App. 31 The King is an absolute and unaccountable Monarch. 1683Brit. Spec. 173 Governed by one Supreme, Absolute, Independent, Undeposable, and Unaccountable Head. 1713Berkeley Guard. No. 3 ⁋1 The Pleasures for which their Doctrines leave them [sc. abandoned young men] unaccountable. 1827Pollok Course T. ii. 38 All else was..unaccountable, by instinct led. But man He made of angel-form erect.
†3. Incalculable; uncountable. Obs.
169.Temple Pop. Discontents ii. ⁋6 It is unaccountable what Treasures it would save this Nation, by preventing so many Wars..abroad. 1722Wollaston Relig. Nat. v. §14 To shew him..still more and more of these fixt lights, and to beget in him an apprehension of their unaccountable numbers.
B. n.
1. An unaccountable person.
1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) V. 314, I never heard of or saw such a dear unaccountable. 1825Brockett N.C. Gloss. s.v. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., He's quite an unaccountable.
2. An unaccountable thing or event. rare.
1789M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 448 It was an event, however, I could not fail of recording in my book of unaccountables. 1799Mrs. J. West Tale of Times II. 250 It..must be set down in the catalogue of my unaccountables. 1833R. Dyer Nine Yrs. Actor's Life 66 His non⁓engagement in London is amongst the unaccountables of metropolitan management. 1961‘J. le Carré’ Call for Dead viii. 83 Of all the unaccountables in the case, that worried him most. |