† undefencedadj.
Obsolete.
1. = undefended adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > [adjective] > defended > not defended
strengthlessc1175
undefenced1451
unfenced1548
unflanked1553
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [adjective] > exposed to danger > vulnerable > unguarded
unwarneda1240
unwarda1325
unwarded1382
unkept?c1430
undefenced1451
unguardedc1602
guardless?1611
watchless1842
1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert 94 So was our old man eke disposed þat he wold not leue þe chirch on-defensed.
1544 P. Betham tr. J. di Porcia Preceptes Warre ii. li. sig. L ijv Let hym beware that he leaue not his campe vndefenced and vnmanned.
1592 A. Day 2nd Pt. Eng. Secretorie sig. P3v, in Eng. Secretorie (rev. ed.) The nature of the Dolphin is not to suffer the young ones of her kinde to straggle vndefenced.
1609 Bible (Douay) I. Gen. xlii. 12 You came to consider the undefensed partes of this land.
1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie Introd. sig. B2v God sends man into the world..naked, and weak, and undefenced against all violences and dangers.
2. Unfenced.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > [adjective] > open or not enclosed > by a fence, wall, gate, etc.
unwalledc1450
undefenced1607
unpaled1607
unfenced1608
grateless1807
gateless1817
wall-less1849
1607 J. Norden Surueyors Dialogue v. 239 It is common..where men sow their corne, in undefenced grounds, there they make a dead hay..to keepe the cattle from the corne.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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adj.1451