uncleanadj.n.int.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈkliːn/, /(ˌ)ʌŋˈkliːn/, U.S. /ˌənˈklin/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of a person: morally or spiritually corrupt; sinful; immoral. Now only with reference to biblical usage.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > moral or spiritual impurity > [adjective]
uncleansedeOE
uncleanlyOE
uncleanOE
unpurec1390
unclearc1440
impure?1533
spotteda1535
unpurified1537
OE Crist III 1016 Forþon nis ænig wundor hu him woruldmonna seo unclæne gecynd, cearum sorgende, hearde ondrede.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 4630 Maȝȝdenn had. & widdwess had. & weddlac birrþ ben clene..Her speke icc off unnclene menn..horedom iss drihhtin laþ.
a1225 ( Ælfric's Homily De Duodecim Abusivis (Lamb. 487) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 111 (MED) Vnclene wif þoleð scome on weorlde.
a1325 (c1280) Southern Passion (Pepys 2344) (1927) l. 607 (MED) Whanne hi were god and clene..Þis lechours and þis hores þat vnclene beoþ so..ne shulleþ nouȝt come so ney.
c1330 (?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) 834 For ȝit wole he noht sinne fle: Iwis, vnclene he shal be.
c1450 (c1350) Alexander & Dindimus (Bodl.) (1929) 636 Þanne schulle ȝe for ȝour sinne soffre paine, For ȝe unclene bi cleped and cleven in ȝour sinne.
1490 in F. W. Weaver Somerset Medieval Wills (1901) 292 After her deceese, other else that she mary, other leve unclene of her body ayenst the lawes of God.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Eph. v. f. cclviiv No whormonger, other vnclene person, or coveteous person.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 240 Quhen he gathiret his vile, vnhonest, maist Jmpure, and vncleine secte.
1614 T. Wilson Comm. Epist. S. Paul to Romanes i. 27 We are by Nature vncleane and vnpure, destitute of personall holinesse.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 1098 That this new commer, Shame, There sit not, and reproach us as unclean . View more context for this quotation
1743 J. Wesley & C. Wesley Coll. Psalms & Hymns (new ed.) (Psalms v. 4) 7 In Souls unholy and unclean Thou never canst delight.
1755 J. Wesley Jrnl. (1761) III. 5 The fierce, unclean, brutish, blasphemous Antinomians.
1849 E. Caswall tr. Lyra Catholica 248 O Jesu, Lord! Unclean I am, but cleanse me in thy blood.
1893 G. Gissing Odd Women III. iii. 81 You were watched every step of the way from here to that place where you have made yourself a base, vile, unclean creature.
1914 C. Geisel in Proc. 1st National Conf. Race Betterment 319 Shut your door in the face of the unclean man, no matter how much money he has.
1985 C. New Shanghai xxviii. 131 I have committed fornication, I am unclean, he thought with grim Biblical rhetoric.
2012 S. Ponsonby Loving Mercy xiv. 166 Their mark is sexual immorality and unnatural desire... To these people—these immoral, unclean, defiled people—Jude says show radical mercy!
b. Of thoughts, behaviour, an action, etc.: morally wrong; impure; indecent.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > moral or spiritual impurity > [adjective] > specifically of things, actions, or thoughts
foullyeOE
uncleanOE
lairya1340
violate?c1500
unracked1581
muddy1600
impure1613
unrinsed1620
OE Crist III 1315 Þær we nu magon wraþe firene geseon on ussum sawlum synna wunde, mid lichoman leahtra gehygdu, eagum unclæne ingeþoncas!
OE Blickling Homilies 25 Hie..beoþ onbærnde mid þære biteran æfest, ge eac beoþ besmitene mid þem unclænan firenluste.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 28509 I haf þam wit delt..Wit handling vnhende, kissyng vnclene.
c1425 (c1400) Prymer (Cambr.) (1895) 49 (MED) From vnclene þouȝtis, lord, deliuere us!
a1505 R. Henryson Test. Cresseid 285 in Poems (1981) 120 Thus hir leuing vnclene and lecherous Scho wald retorte in me and my mother.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 1 Then sal thay..cause them to put away baudrie & vnclene sangis.
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning i. sig. B3 It is meere imposture..to offer to the Author of truth, the vncleane sacrifice of a lye. View more context for this quotation
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Ezra (Job. iv. 13) 43 Carnall hearts are..stewes of unclean thoughts.
1709 I. Watts Hymns & Spiritual Songs (ed. 2) i. 76 Their Hearts by Nature all unclean.
1743 A. Pope Dunciad (rev. ed.) ii. 99 Her servant..List'ning delighted to the jest unclean Of link-boys vile.
1861 H. A. Jacobs Incidents Life Slave Girl v. 44 He peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of.
1889 R. Buchanan in Contemp. Rev. Dec. 925 Unclean sexual pathology, expressed in language which has no claim to literature.
1956 W. S. Burroughs Let. 26 Feb. (1993) 310 They keep a plain-clothes man on him at all times, and he is always trying to shake his shadow so he can get to a Turkish Bath for ‘a spot of good, unclean fun’.
1991 A. Tan Kitchen God's Wife x. 183 When a girl starts having unclean thoughts, her body must purge itself.
2.
a. Of a person, object, action, etc.: considered impure for religious or cultural reasons; ritually impure.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > [adjective] > not
uncleaneOE
foulOE
commonc1384
impure1623
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xv. 95 Be ðæm wæs suiðe wel gecueden ðurh Moyses ðætte se wer se ðe ðrowude oferflownesse his sædes, & ðæt unnytlice agute, ðæt he ðonne wære unclæne.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1712 He wass unnclene þohh Þatt daȝȝ anan till efenn.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1867 Agte unclene ne wulde he beren, For he dredde him it sulde him deren.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Lev. xiii. 46 He shal crien hym wemmed & foul, al tyme þat he is leprous & vnclene [L. sordidum se clamabit].
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 19932 Nu wit sight i haf it sene þat o man-kind es nan vnclene.
a1480 (c1450) Barlaam & Iosaphat (Peterhouse) (1986) 42 (MED) Fro þis generacion God hath called þe, and seith: ‘Go out of þe myddel of hem, and departe þe from hem, and tuche non vnclene þynge, but safe þe fro þis fals generacion.’
a1500 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Gough) (1905) 57 (MED) A woman þat was delyuerde of a man-chyld sculd be holden vnclene by þe lawe vii dayes aftyr hur burth.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 3 Moses xi. F Whan there is water poured vpon the sede, and afterwarde eny soch deed carcase falleth theron, then shall it be vncleane vnto you.
1630 J. Taylor Jack a Lent in Wks. 119/1 I hold it a conscience to abstaine from flesh-eating in Lent: not that I thinke it to bee vncleane to the cleane.
1643 J. Caryl Expos. Job (1676) I. 1326 The uncleanness of the giver renders his gift unclean.
1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea xii. 210 When the Custom of Women is upon the Female Sex, they are..esteemed unclean.
1765 J. Erskine Theol. Diss. i. i. 11 Every one that was not ceremonially unclean..and forebore to keep the passover, was to be cut off by death from God's people.
1836 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. (ed. 2) II. xxi. 335 The Gentiles were no longer common or unclean.
1891 A. M. Bacon Japanese Girls & Women ix. 228 Outcasts who lived by begging,..caring for dead bodies, tanning skins, and other employments which rendered them unclean.
1910 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 40 366 To drink milk or eat a raw egg rendered the person unclean for several days.
1966 P. Scott Jewel in Crown v. 209 Unclean by traditional Hindu standards and custom because I had crossed the black water.
2003 D. Gaines Misfit's Manifesto ii. 25 Our Hebrew teachers always asked us to place things on the desk, like chalk or keys, so as not to pass them directly into their hands. Just in case we were unclean that day, niddah.
b. Of food or an animal: spec. considered impure for religious or cultural reasons, and therefore not fit to be eaten.
ΚΠ
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) i. xvi. 80 Seo æ monig þing bewereð to etanne, swa swa unclæne.
OE Ælfric Old Test. Summary: Maccabees (Julius) in W. W. Skeat Ælfric's Lives of Saints (1900) II. 72 Swin wæs ða unclæne forðan þe hit ne ceow his cudu.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 14559 Þeȝȝ alle samenn ȝedenn..inn till þatt arrke..Off alle kinne cwike der. Off clene & off unnclene.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Lev. xi. 8 Ne touche ȝe þe careynes: for þei been vnclene to ȝow.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 1960 I warn yow als-sua all be-deine Ete o na best o kind vn-clene.
a1450 Ministry & Passion of Christ (St. John's Cambr.) (1984) l. 671 (MED) Oure lord to saue þo syke men graunted hem at þe ende, For it was leuere þat þe deuel in onclene beste were þan in men þat he louyþ more.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Hosea ix. A But Ephraim..eateth vncleane thinges amonge the Assirians.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxviii. 182 They are Dogges, Swine, vncleane beasts.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies vii. ii. 497 They hunted..vncleane beasts, as snakes, lizards, locusts and wormes.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 328 Nor mention I Meats by the Law unclean, or offer'd first To Idols. View more context for this quotation
a1722 J. Toland Coll. Pieces II. 456 The like for the redemption of the first-born of unclean beasts.
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) I. 347 Why are those animals pronounced unclean?
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics iv. 61 The remarkable Divine interdict obliging the Jews to abstain from certain fish as unclean.
1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel vi. 320 Eating of unclean food.
1901 R. Kipling Kim iv. 86 They meet a troop of long-haired, strong-scented Sansis, with baskets of lizards and other unclean food.
1923 M. E. Durham in Albania & Albanians (2001) 144 I was told that any food prepared by an unchurched woman would be quite uneatable—unclean in fact.
2009 Bismarck (N. Dakota) Tribune (Nexis) 28 Apr. 4 a Both Judaism and Islam consider pigs unclean and forbid the eating of pork products.
3.
a. Not physically clean; dirty, filthy; soiled; (of a sore, wound, etc.) infected, diseased.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > [adjective]
uncleaneOE
horyc1000
foulOE
fennilicha1225
sutya1225
mixc1225
blackc1300
solwyc1325
bawdy1377
filthyc1384
nastyc1390
sowlyc1400
soryc1440
uncleanly1447
mossyc1450
dungyc1494
bedirted1528
slubberly?1529
filthish1530
deturpate?1533
mucky1538
stercorous1542
bluterc1550
dungish?1550
puddly1559
drumly1563
suddle1568
parbruilyiedc1586
sluttered1589
dirty1600
ordurous?1606
immund1621
turpie1633
sterquilinious1647
bruckled1648
cloacal1656
foede1657
stercorose1727
murky1755
sterquilinian1772
cloacinean1814
floy1820
poucey1829
stoachy1836
mullocky1839
muckering1841
sewery1851
dutty1853
dauby1855
cloacean1859
mucky1863
bilgy1878
cloacaline1879
muck-heapy1881
cloacinal1887
schmutzig1911
grufty1922
scabrous1939
mawkit1962
feechie1975
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. iv. 391 [Ne onscunige ic no þæs neoþeran and þæs] unclænan stowe gif ic þ[e geradne ge]mete.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 91 Þu art lodlich & unclene, Bi þine neste ich hit mene.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 8969 Is þis wel ido Þat þou þes vnclene limes handlest & kust so.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 575 (MED) For who so wole his handes lime, Thei mosten be the more unclene.
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 110 Cure it [sc. a flewmatik aposteme] wiþ þe curacioun of vnclene bocches.
a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 17 The Kyng..cryed..that they shuld cume with shettes, and drawe hym up owt of that uncleyne place of the privay.
a1500 (c1350) Octovian (Cambr.) (1986) l. 885 Clement broght forthe schylde and spere That were vncomely for to were, All sutty, blakk and vnclene.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Vncleane,..Loke in filthy and fowle.
1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. C3v To carry away all noisome filth that is swept out of vncleane corners.
1684 Bp. G. Burnet tr. T. More Utopia 92 Nor do they suffer any thing that is foul or unclean to be brought within their Towns.
1749 D. Garrick Let. 4 Nov. (1963) I. 138 I have had a little scold, for walking into her dressing Room with unclean Shoes.
1796 J. Farington Diary 26 May (1978) II. 559 He has spoken very disrespectfully of the Princess, as to her person being unclean, with sores &c.
1855 W. T. Helmuth Surg. & its Adaptation to Homœopathic Pract. xii. 270 On the sixtieth [day] the wound was unclean, of a bad odor, and again bled a little.
1866 W. C. Hazlitt in Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. III. 131 The moist and unclean thumbs of a wide circle of readers.
1910 ‘R. Dehan’ Dop Doctor 297 Little Dierck will have something worse than the belly-ache,..if you eat of broth or vegetables cooked in a vessel as unclean as that.
1999 M. Pooley & J. Lomax Real Cidermaking xii. 84 Unclean and unsterilised equipment is also a source of infection.
b. Of air, smells, etc.: foul; noxious; contaminated. Now esp.: containing substances which are harmful to health or the environment; polluted.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > fetor > [adjective] > of a smell: bad
sourc1340
sourish1398
unclean?1440
rankish1495
rank1570
penetrating?1576
quick1578
musk cat1609
acute1620
loud1641
nauseous1649
loud-flavoured1866
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 35 Al this is preef of holsum aier and clene, And ther as is contrair is aier vnclene.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iv. 971 Ffrom bathes aliene, vnclene odoure.., auyse Thee wel to been.
1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. Sv Vncleane vapours that hurte the eies.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 28 The clowdes hom cled in vnclene ayre.
1650 tr. Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni (new ed.) 52 If we draw in..unclean ayr, it corrupteth in us the naturall heat and spirit.
1700 T. Tryon Lett. Several Occasions 6 When any Person is among gross and unclean Smells, he can hold his Nose.
1764 Parthenia i. iv. 9 He the unclean air With mirky nostrils snuff'd.
1859 F. Nightingale Notes Sanitary Condition Hospitals 16 Some kinds of tin vessels cannot by any amount of cleaning be freed from an unclean smell.
1878 M. R. Higham Other House xv. 195 There hung about the place a heavy, unclean odor, that made her head ache.
1956 Wichita Falls (Texas) Times 8 Apr. 5 d/6 The unclean aroma of the unbathed.
2007 B. L. Johnson Environmental Policy & Public Health v. 189 The effects of unclean air on the public's health remain key motivations for keeping the [Clean Air] act enforced.
c. Of land or soil: full of weeds or weed seeds; not cleared of weeds. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [adjective] > cleared > not cleared or overgrown
unclean?1440
weedy?1440
spare1508
unweeded1604
uncleared1623
twitchy1652
uncured1719
turfy1733
mushroomed1886
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) ii. 74 (MED) The lond vnclene al doluen up mot be, Of rootis, fern, & weed, to mak hit fre.
1827 Amer. Farmer 26 Jan. 360/1 Vices spring up in society as spontaneously as the rankest weeds from unclean soil.
1844 Morning Post 4 Apr. 3/5 The number of hoeings by hand depend on..the clean or unclean state of the land.
1968 Financial Times 30 Aug. 2/5 If the land is at all unclean, weeds grow up through the laid crop.
d. Of the tongue: having a thick, usually white coating, typically caused by accumulated dead cells resulting from infection; furry.
ΚΠ
1776 A. Sparrman tr. N. R. von Rosenstein Dis. Children & Remedies xiv. 150 If the patient be observed to have signs of a nausea, an unclean tongue.., or any reachings, he must be made to vomit.
1800 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 4 423 As soon as they see an unclean tongue, an emetic is pronounced unquestionably necessary.
1842 C. Bruchhausen & R. Nelson tr. C. W. Hufeland Enchiridion Medicum (rev. ed.) 185 The tongue is unclean, white, yellow, or brown-coated.
1908 Medico-pharmaceutical Critic & Guide May 156 More than once we have been obliged to tell a patient rather bluntly: all your troubles are due to an unclean tongue.
1937 East Liverpool (Ohio) Rev. 24 Nov. 12/1 Halitosis..may come from an unclean tongue, a tongue carrying much offensive material.
2006 Times of India 25 June c2/2 Bad breath..is caused by swollen or infected gums, cavities, and an unclean tongue.
e. Of fish, esp. salmon, during the spawning season: in an unhealthy condition and therefore not fit to be eaten.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [adjective] > unwholesome
unclean1817
1817 Caledonian Mercury 15 Mar. 1/4 The Company assure their Customers and the Public, that on no account will they allow unclean Salmon to be exposed at their Warehouse.
1861 Act 24 & 25 Victoria c. 109 §14 No Person shall..wilfully take any unclean or unseasonable Salmon.
1876 Whitaker's Almanack 302/1 For the purposes of the sections applying to..unclean fish, trout and char are included.
1905 Times 18 July 3/5 John Finlayson..was summoned..for having in his possession on March 24 16 unclean salmon at Billingsgate Market.
2000 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 4 Feb. (Features section) 52 The other unclean salmon to look out for and return is the kipper, an autumn cock fish in full breeding colours.
4. Of a demon, devil, etc.: wicked, evil. Chiefly in unclean spirit n. a demon. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > evil spirit or demon > [noun]
evil angel, spiritc950
ghosteOE
uncleanOE
demonOE
devilOE
devilshineOE
groa1225
debleriea1325
devilnessa1400
devilryc1400
sprat?a1475
nicker1481
fiend of hell1509
imp1526
virtue1584
elf1587
succubus1601
blue devilc1616
black man1656
woolsaw1757
buggane1775
bhut1785
demonic1785
pishachi1807
devil-devil1831
skookum1838
taipo1848
lightning bird1870
demonry1883
pisaca1885
mafufunyanas1963
mare1981
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark i. 26 Discerpens eum spiritus inmundus et exclamans uoce magna exiuit ab eo : bidtende..hine se gast unclænæ & ofclioppende stefne micla uel mið micle stefne ofeode from him.
OE Cynewulf Elene 301 Ge mid horu speowdon on þæs ondwlitan þe eow eow eagena leoht, fram blindnesse bote gefremede..ond fram unclænum oft generede deofla gastum.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 4635 Forr deofell iss unnclene gast & lufeþþ unnclænnesse.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 27 (MED) Þe unclene gast þe geð him of þan sunfulle mon..secheð reste hwer he mei wunian, ah he ne mei in nane gode men.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Mark i. 23 In the synagoge of hem was a man in an vnclene spirit [L. in spiritu inmundo].
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. cxxxi. 1386 Musik abateþ maystry of yuel spirites..as we redeþ of Dauid þat delyuerede Saul of an vnclene spirit by craft of melody.
c1425 Prose Versions New Test.: Deeds (Cambr.) (1904) v. 16 Hem þat wore traueiled wiþ vnclene spirittes.
a1480 (c1450) Barlaam & Iosaphat (Peterhouse) (1986) 45 (MED) Whan an vnclene spyrite goth out of a man by grace of bapteem, he gooth aboute by drye placis sekynge his reste.
1534 Bible (Tyndale) Luke iv. E A man which had a sprete of an vncleane devell.
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 593/2 Whersoeuer that water is sprinkled, al vexation or infestation of the vnclean spirit, shoulde auoyde.
1628 Bp. J. Hall Olde Relig. x. ii. 97 So hee that should call Satan an vncleane Deuill should imply that some Deuill is not vncleane.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. viii. 38 The spirit of man, when it produceth unclean actions, is ordinarily called an unclean spirit.
1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. ii. 54 A cage of Devils, and as the Text calls them, Unclean Spirits.
1785 A. Bruce True Patriotism 182 The false prophet and the unclean spirit together shall pass out of the land.
1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood i. 2 He has to withdraw himself to a lean arm-chair..until he has got the better of this unclean spirit of imitation.
1881 Homiletic Q. 5 295/1 How far it was the man himself who spake, or the unclean demon who had taken possession, none can say.
1911 G. K. Chesterton Innocence of Father Brown 236 He turned and went into the church with bowed head, crossing himself like one who wishes to be quit of an unclean spirit.
1960 Tyrone (Pa.) Daily Herald 10 Mar. 2/3 The free traders seemingly look upon our economy as some unclean spirit through whose veins flow the dirty, degrading dollars of life.
2004 V. G. Brougher tr. A. Kondratiev On Banks of Yaryn xiv. 119 The unclean spirits, shouting and howling, began to circle around them in dance.
B. n.
Chiefly (and now only) with the and plural agreement. Unclean people or animals collectively, esp. those considered morally, spiritually, or ritually unclean.
ΚΠ
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xliii. 317 He cuæð ðæt ðæm clænum wære eal clæne, & ðæm unclænum nære nan wuht clæne.
OE tr. Defensor Liber Scintillarum (1969) xxv. 192 Omnis fornicator, aut inmundus, aut auarus, quod est idolorum seruitus, non habet hereditatem in regno christi et dei : ælc forlicgend oþþe unclæne oþþe gytsere,þæt ys deofulgylda þeowdom næfþ yrfwyrdnysse on rice cristes & godes.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Eccles. ix. 2 Alle thingus euenli comen..to the goode and to the euele, to the clene and to the vnclene [L. inmundo].
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Eccles. ix. A It goeth..with the good & cleane as with the vncleane.
1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. lviii. f. 83v Sinners with the faithfull..the vncleane with ye cleane.
1609 Bible (Douay) I. Deut. xiv. 12 The uncleane eate not: to witte, the eagle, the grype, and the osprey.
1676 J. Bunyan Strait Gate 134 Beware..of the man whose head swims with notions, but his life is among the unclean.
1743 C. Fleming Challenge to Treat. Subj. & Mode Baptism II. 19 This seems to be the whole of the water purification, which the unclean received from the priest.
1775 R. Robinson tr. J. Saurin Serm. IV. iv. 78 These abominable..shall have, as well as..the unclean, and the idolaters, their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone.
1839 Christian Beacon Jan. 14/2 Indecent songs, from the lips of the unclean..broke upon the stillness of the night.
1897 H. K. Beauchamp tr. J. A. Dubois Hindu Manners I. ii. v. 202 Amongst animals there were the clean and the unclean.
1965 Port Angeles (Washington) Evening News 9 Apr. 2/4 The out-of-works, the hungry, the uneducated and the unclean are the least likely to accept advice.
2013 B. Wiker Worshipping the State i. 17 It was very clear what one was allowed and not allowed to say, and which moral and political positions were considered clean and unclean, and the unclean were not permitted to speak.
C. int.
Usually reduplicated, as unclean, unclean. In biblical use, or with allusion to this: the cry of a leper, used to alert others to his or her presence (now historical). Hence in figurative and similative contexts: used to indicate that a person, course of action, or state of affairs is undesirable, reprehensible, or morally corrupt.In biblical terms, those who had been diagnosed as lepers by the priest were required to separate themselves from the community as being ritually unclean, after Leviticus 13:45: see quot. 1568. (Earlier translations of the Bible do not use the phrase unclean, unclean: cf. the same passage in quot. a1382 at sense A. 2a). [After Hebrew ṭāmē unclean, ritually impure, defiled.]
ΚΠ
1568 Bible (Bishops') Lev. xiii. 45 The leper in whom the plague is, shal haue his clothes rent, & his head bare,..and shall crye: vncleane, vncleane [Heb. ṭāmē! ṭāmē!].
1618 N. Byfield Paterne Wholsome Words ix. 110 It should worke in wicked men a feruent desire of remission, and constant indeuour in the confession of sinne, crying out daily with the leper, vncleane, vncleane.
1667 J. Janeway Heaven upon Earth 183 He made full account that he was pure, but now he cries out unclean, unclean.
1781 J. Kershaw Methodist ii. 20 In vain can Man his heart and hands wash clean; when he's the height of self-perfection seen, his God pronounces him, unclean! unclean!
1859 Christian Repository Nov. 808 You would have seen him cover his upper lip and again cry Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!—to warn you not to come too near him, lest even the wind should blow contagion from his leprous skin.
1909 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 30 230 The chief penitent is the editor, who cries Unclean! Unclean! in almost every number by reason of the typographical and other errors that escape.
1954 Times 18 Feb. 10/1 Leper islands, leper squints in churches,..and above all voices crying ‘unclean’, and the sound of a bell.
2010 Irish Times (Nexis) 28 Dec. 13 Financial markets are ringing to the cries of unclean unclean, as the rest of Europe tries to quarantine the Irish economy and prevent it from putting a pox on the whole system.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.n.int.eOE