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▪ I. unˈtimely, a.
[un-1 7. Cf. MDa. utimelig of weather, etc.]
1. Coming before the proper or natural time; premature:
a. Of fruit. Also, not fully or properly ripened; immature.
1535Coverdale Isaiah xxviii. 4 It shal happen vnto him, as to an vntymely frute before the haruest come. 1561J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. 209 That y⊇ vntimely figges fal downe in great plentie. 1568Bible (Bishops') Rev. vi. 13 Euen as a figge tree casteth her vntimely figges. 1644Milton Educ. 2 These are not matters to be wrung from poor striplings, like..the plucking of untimely fruit. 1825A. L. Barbauld ‘Praise to God’ vi, Should the fig-tree's blasted shoot Drop her green untimely fruit.
b. Of birth(s).
1538Elyot, Abortus, an vntymely byrthe. 1634T. Johnson tr. Parey's Chirurg. Wks. xxiv. xxx. 921 The causes of abortion or untimely birth, whereof the child is called an abortive, are many. 1710Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. §151 Monsters, untimely births, fruits blasted in the blossom. 1755Johnson, Abortment, an untimely birth.
c. Of death, fate, etc.
1548Elyot, Praematura mors, vntymely death. 1596Drayton Leg. Matilda 648 Some say, the King repentant for this Deed,..Offered His Teares on my vntimely Graue. 1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. i. i, Th' untimely fate of that too beauteous boy. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 167 The bodies of children, gotten by diseased parents, are subject..to untimely death. 1709Addison Tatler No. 154 ⁋5 Souls of Infants..snatched away by untimely Ends. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. xii. I. 322 A life of pleasure or virtue,..of indolence or glory, alike led to an untimely grave. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xlii, Their guide pointed with solemn air to the untimely bier of Athelstane. 1847Prescott Peru I. 452 Heaven..bringing them all to an untimely and miserable end.
d. In other contexts.
1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Praecox, Vntimely laughter & that happeneth very soone, as before the childe is fortie dayes olde. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lviii. iv, O let their brood..of springing thornes Be by untymely rooting over⁓throwne. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 157 Few of them attending patiently the death of their Predecessours, but by impious meanes labour their vntimely establishment. 1746Berkeley Sec. Let. Tar-water §9 Unhappy drinkers..bringing on the untimely symptoms of old age.
e. Perishing before due time. rare—1.
1605Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. Law 667 Som, thrill'd with..shafts, through hundred holes Shall ghastly gasp-out our untimely soules.
2. Unseasonable (in respect of the time of year).
a. Of frost, blight, etc.
1576Gascoigne Steele Gl. 455 So those imps..Are..nipt, with such untimely frosts. 1591Spenser Daphn. 238 O that so faire a flower so soone should fade, And through vntimely tempest fall away. 1730Thomson Spring 115 If brush'd from Russian wilds a cutting gale Rise not, and..breathe Untimely frost. 1751W. Whitehead Hymn to Nymph 46 Life's latter fruits..at last fall off Shook by no boist'rous, or untimely blasts. 1797Godwin Enquirer i. v. 35 [It] may..suffer an untimely blight. 1847Longfellow Ev. i. ii. 98 The harvests in England By untimely rains or untimelier heat have been blighted. 1853C. Brontë Villette xxxii, I have read of those who sowed in tears, and whose harvest..perished by untimely blight.
b. In other contexts.
1593Drayton Shepherd's Garl. iv. 33 O dismall day,..O stormy winter,..O most vntimely and eclipsed morrow. 1627Abp. Abbot in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 448 It is an unseasonable time to brew now, and as untimely to cut Wood. 1712Spect. No. 404 ⁋3 By the Assistance of Art and an hot Bed, we may possibly extort an unwilling Plant, or an untimely Sallad. 1879Stevenson Trav. Cevennes 40 They were cutting aftermath,..which gave the neighbourhood..an untimely smell of hay.
3. Unseasonable, ill-timed, inopportune.
1581J. Fielde (title), A Caveat for Parsons Hovvlet, concerning his vntimely flighte, and scriching in the cleare day lighte of the Gospell. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 68 So vntimely breach The Prince him selfe halfe seemeth to offend. 1607–12Bacon Ess., Of Empire (Arb.) 298 The vnequall and vntimely interchaunge of pressing power. 1617Woodall Surg. Mate (1639) 3 Many dangers attending the unskilfull or untimely use thereof. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl., etc. (1848) 68 Men's overeager and untimely pursuits of several desirable things. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 240 [It is] wise and just in general; but often..untimely; that is, too late. 1796F. Burney Camilla II. 370 [She] felt so much hurt by this untimely sight, that..she bent her eyes another way. 1830Praed Poems (1865) I. 234 All untimely question Ruffles the temper. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. I. v. 328 The cause of all this untimely activity.
b. Of hours: Unusually late (or early).
1827Scott Highl. Widow v. ad fin., There are many who are still unwilling, at untimely hours, to pass the oak-tree.
▪ II. unˈtimely, adv.
[un-1 11. Cf. MSw. otimelika in sense 1.]
1. At an unsuitable or improper time; unseasonably, inopportunely.
Not in common use before the end of the 16th cent.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 11 Swilche oðre [sins]..alse ben oueretes and untimeliche eten alehuse. 1382Wyclif Ps. civ. 28 He sente dercnessis, and made derc; and vntymely he fullfilde not [L. non exacerbavit] his woordis.
1596Spenser F.Q. v. v. 29 Now is the time, that I vntimely must Thereof make tryall, in my greatest need. 1596Edward III, iii. i. 184 Thus my tale is donne: We haue vntimly lost, and they haue woone. 1618Rowlands Night Raven (1620) D 2 b, I behold abuses..By such as doe vntimely haunt the street. 1667K. Philips Poems 111 He only dies untimely who dies late. 1702Rowe Tamerl. iii. ii, If I not press untimely on his leisure, You would [etc.]. 1743W. Whitehead Ann Boleyn to Hen. VIII, 74, I fell untimely, and lament my Fall. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxii, To avenge the deed expelling Thee untimely from thy dwelling. 1882–3Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. II. 851/2 The moment for this controversy was very untimely chosen by the Pope.
2. Before the proper or natural time; prematurely.
a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. x, O sweet youth,..how untimely subject it is to devotion? 1611J. Guillim Heraldry ii. iv. 46, I haue inserted the same (although vntimely) in this place, which otherwise I would haue reserued to some other. 1660Trial Regic. 36 When that Blessed King was untimely taken away. 1721Pope Ep. to Earl Oxford 2 'Till Death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue. 1766Museum Rust. VI. 74 Trees..untimely taken off, before they arrive at any valuable maturity. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. ii. 17 Legs bowed from having been made untimely to bear the weight of the swollen body. 1857Pusey Real Presence i. 64 Melancthon..prolonged the conference, only lest he should seem to break it off untimely. |