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▪ I. unˈfit, a. (and adv.)
[un-1 7 and 5 b.]
1. a. Of things: Not fit, proper, or suitable for some purpose or end. † Also const. to (a person).
In quot. 1709 app. ‘badly fitting’.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John i. 11 b, For there is no tyme nor place vnfit or vnconuenient for to learne those thynges whiche pertayne to euerlastynge welth. 1584in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 82 The Earle..gave the poore man many..opprobrious wordes, unfytte and unseemely for a man of that howse and blod. a1658Lovelace Poems (1904) 191 He that dares this, nothing to him's unfit. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 190 Lord of few Acres, and those barren too; Unfit for Sheep or Vines, and more unfit to sow. 1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4551/4 He wears..a brown Drugget Coat and Wastecoat..very unfit for him. 1785Cowper Let. to Newton 19 Mar., The sideboard-table..was equally unfit for my purpose. 1812Crabbe Tales xiii. 351 Those duties were to her unfit, Nor would her spirit to her tasks submit. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. v. (1842) 151 Mortars of wood, marble, or iron, are unfit for ordinary laboratory service. 1884Thompson Tumours of Bladder 71 In cases considered temporarily unfit for operation through exhaustion, etc.
b. Without prepositional const.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 118 An vnfit and staffysh bow. a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. xxix, Because of the unfit election she had made. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. xiv. 460 Although these buildings were great, yet were they commonly ill appoynted and vnfit. 1661Rust Origen's Opin. 78 If old age it self can make the Soul quit her unfit tenement. 1711in Nairne Peerage Evidence (1874) 133 Rendered the same unfit and in human probability impossible. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 317 The anxious fidelity with which they discharged their unfit office.
c. Const. with inf. (active or passive).
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. xiii, A place for pleasantnes, not unfitte to flatter solitarinesse. 1611Cotgr., Imbuvable, vndrinkable; vnfit to be drunke of. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 173 There be other [diseases], not so great; which neverthelesse are not unfit to be observed. 1697[see 1 a]. 1710Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Mr. W. Montagu Aug., There are a thousand things, not ill in themselves, which custom makes unfit to be done. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight viii. 117 The flame..is never steady, and is unfit to read by.
2. a. Of persons (or other agents): Not fitted, suited, or adapted for some end or action. Also Comb. (in unfit-like) and absol.
1551T. Wilson Logike D j, We see many dull wittes for lernyng, and muche vnfit that waie. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 510 To giue an vnfitte man orders,..is that kinde of sin which we doe call anothers sin. 1782J. Brown Nat. & Rev. Relig. ii. i. (1796) 105 In propagating the gospel by so unfit-like instruments. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 128 A person unknown and unfit..may happen to have the same, under an estate of inheritance. 1882Nonconf. & Indep. 10 Oct. 986/1 The survival of the unfittest, instead of the fittest.
b. Const. to (chiefly with inf.) or for.
(a)1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 111 It maketh him good for nothing,..slothfull, and unfit to every good thing. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 136 This makes them..open rebels against God, vnfit to take his word or name within their lips. 1645Milton Colast. Wks. 1851 IV. 349 The unfittest man that could bee to offer at a comment upon Job. 1747H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 201, I am the unfittest person in the world to give you any satisfaction on this head. 1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. xii, But soon he knew himself the most unfit Of men to herd with Man. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. vii. 91 Men who are morally or intellectually unfit to be jurors.
(b)1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 109 Rich. He was fitter for that place then earth. An. And thou vnfit for any place, but hell. 1660R. Coke Power & Subj. 73 Being of all mortal men the most unfit for a Churchman. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 102 Then release the Cow, Unfit for Love, and for the lab'ring Plough. 1736Berkeley Disc. Wks. 1871 III. 413 Monsters, utterly unfit for human society. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 584 In order that one man might fill a post for which he was unfit. 1880Dixon Windsor IV. i. 2 He was a man unfit for such a trust.
3. Not physically fit.
Usually const. for or with infinitive.
1665in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 251, I grow every day more unfit for such a Jorney. a1718Prior Amaryllis 24 The furious heat forbids the reaper's toil. Both beast and men for work are now unfit. 1798S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. II. 428 The Marquis was very unfit for a journey when he left Naples. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. i. 26, I am myself so disabled..as to be entirely unfit..to do any work.
4. As adv. Unfitly.
1653J. Taylor (Water P.) Cert. Trav. uncert. Journ. 8 Sometimes the wits and tongues do, most unfit, Travell, when tongues do run before the wit.
5. As n. A person whose mental or physical health falls below a desired standard.
1912Q. Rev. Apr. 496 The statistics..showing the enormous number of ‘unfits’, made clear the havoc wrought by the modern city. 1925Scribner's Mag. July 7/2 By cutting off the reproduction of these social unfits,..we can go so far.
▪ II. unˈfit, v.
[un-2 6.]
trans. To render unfit; to disqualify.
1611Florio, Disadattare, to vnfit, to disorder. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. ii. x. (1848) 128, I..esteem'd sickness more formidable for its unfitting me to learn. 1690Norris Beatitudes (1692) 80 Consider again, How much causless..Anger unfits us for all the Parts of Divine Worship. 1779Mirror No. 16, It may disqualify the mind for the more active..scenes of life, and unfit it for the enjoyments of ordinary society. 1847Helps Friends in C. (1851) I. 36 To have erred in one branch of our duties does not unfit us for all the rest. 1898‘Merriman’ Roden's Corner vi. 57 Those whose birth and education unfit them for such pursuits. |