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unˈfledged, ppl. a.
Also 7–8 unfletch'd, 7 unfletcht.
[un-1 8.]
1. Not yet furnished or covered with feathers; callow; unfeathered. Also in fig. context.
1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iii. 27 We poore vnfledg'd Haue neuer wing'd from view o' th' nest. 1717Poem Birthday K. George, Now boldly dare, With unfletch'd Wings, Nobly to soar. 1752Foote Taste i. i, This superannuated Beldame gapes for flattery, like a nest of unfledg'd crows for food. 1821Scott Kenilw. ix, The two-legged and unfledged species called mankind. 1890Science-Gossip XXVI. 19/2, Two unfledged birds lying dead at the base of the wall.
b. poet. Of an arrow: = unfeathered a. 2.
1752Young Brothers ii. i, Nor can he feather there his unfledg'd shaft But from ambition's wing.
2. Of things: Not fully developed; still in a crude or imperfect state.
1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 50 You that..betake to worser parts Your vnfledg'd fancies. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, xxxvii, Vnfledg'd Witt Imp't from the ragged Sarcill Chaucer drop't. 1790Sir J. Reynolds in Leslie & Taylor Life & Times (1865) II. x. 592 Newly hatched, unfledged opinions. 1851Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. ii. 270 Alas, poor people, of an unfledged will!
3. Of persons: Immature, inexperienced, undeveloped in knowledge, etc.
1602Shakes. Ham. i. iii. 65 But doe not dull thy palme, with entertainment Of each vnhatch't, vnfledg'd Comrade. 1669Dryden Prol. to Wild Gallant reviv'd 14 By such degrees, while knowledge he did want, Our unfletch'd Author writ a Wild Gallant. 1712Addison Spect. No. 305 ⁋15 This Society of unfledged Statesmen. 1769Junius Lett. xxv. (1788) 159 The unfledged race of ensigns, who infest our streets. 1824Doyle in Fitz-Patrick Life (1880) I. 314 To stare with wonder..at what appears strange only because it is unknown to some unfledged traveller or essayist.
4. Pertaining to, characteristic of, youth and inexperience.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 78 In those vnfledg'd dayes, was my Wife a Girle. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 134, I am but as a bird from the nest, and this is the first of my unfledged excursions. 1809Malkin Gil Blas x. x. ⁋42 My unfledged youth might lead him to take me for some graceless little truant. 1881World 28 Dec., She has lost the innocence of unfledged girlhood. |