unlabelledunlabeledadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈleɪbld/, U.S. /ˌənˈleɪbəld/ 1. Not labelled; without a label.
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society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > labelling > [adjective] > having no label
unlabelled1762
1762 Public Advertiser 8 May Several Shopkeepers Servants and others, have lately made a Practice of selling unlabelled Cards.
1791 2nd Heroic Ep. to J. Priestley 19 (note) A chemist of no mean reputation had once nearly demolished himself by mistaking, in an unlabelled bottle, nitrous acid for the ardent spirit, commonly called brandy.
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen xii. 175 A little while you are free, and unlabelled, like the ground that you compass, but Civilization is coming.
1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 166 The reels are turned over, and their unlabelled ends exposed.
1922 Harvard Law Rev. 35 477 The plaintiffs were forced to strip off the labels and sell the milk unlabeled.
2013 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 13 July 29 She resists a professional diagnosis for herself, preferring to remain unlabelled.
2. Biology and Chemistry. Of a molecule, substance, etc.: not containing an added marker (as a radioisotope, fluorescent dye, etc.) that enables it to be traced. See labelled adj. 5.
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1935 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 111 164 In order successfully to label a physiological substance, it is essential that the chemical and physical properties of the labeled substance be so similar to the unlabeled one that the animal organism will not be able to differentiate between them.
1959 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 81 3169/1 The hybrids contain both labelled and unlabelled chains.
2003 J. R. Cooper et al. Biochem. Basis Neuropharmacol. (ed. 8) vii. 172 The antagonist could not be easily displaced..by unlabeled ganglionic or neuromuscular antagonists.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1762