unrequiredadj.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. l. 2405 But more frely, with hert ful entere, Liste vnrequered on my wo to rewe.

?1518 A. Barclay Fyfte Eglog sig. Avij^v And vnrequyred, presentynge them sayde she O lorde these also, my veray chyldren be.

1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer ii. sig. O.i They..y^t rashly before a greate manne entre into talke vnrequired.

1595 T. Bedingfield tr. N. Machiavelli Florentine Hist. vii. 172 Many times also vnrequired he did lend to those Gentlemen.

1623 Rec. Perth Kirk Session in J. Stuart Extacts Presbytery Bk. Strathbogie (1843) Pref. p. xi The bairns mother deponed, that the said Isabell Haldane came to her house unrequired, and saw the bairn.

1634 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. Hist. New Test. (STC 12640.5) 266 So free, that he shall willingly undergoe it, when it is laid upon him; not so free as that he shall lay it upon himselfe, unrequired.

1749 S. Richardson Clarissa (ed. 2) III. v. 39 How artfully does he (unrequired) promise to observe the conditions?

1817 Christian Jrnl. Aug. 250/2 Could any thing be more rash than to go unrequired into the presence of the Imperial persecutor, and thus throw away his valuable life?

1838 London Med. Gaz. 5 May 252/2 He is equally ready to take it [sc. offence] when unoffered, and to offer it unrequired.

1970 D. L. Lewis King: Crit. Biogr. (1978) i. 7 Unasked and unrequired, King, Sr., was always on hand to advise, cajole, and protect.

?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. Hvii Desyre thou none office, nor cure... If it vnrequyred be gyuen vnto the..do nat the same dispyse.

1559 in P. F. Tytler Hist. Scotl. (1864) III. 396 As I have found this your good mind unrequired,..I am bold to desire you..to continue in the same.

1637 G. Gillespie Dispute against Eng.-Popish Ceremonies ii. ix. 43 This Argument of Scandall, the Pastor can make good against the Fornicator, out of his owne ultroneous and unrequired concession of the indifferency of Fornication.

1687 R. Boyle Martyrdom Theodora x. 179 A young Lady, in whose Sex, Courage is..an unrequired, if not an altogether improper, Vertue.

1751 Eleanora 45 Their unrequired Intrusion, should interrupt the Design.

1817 W. Scott Rob Roy III. xii. 322 His unrequired presence prevented me from speaking freely to Syddall.

1872 G. Bowen Love Revealed 23 When we fail to give those proofs of humility which the occasion properly demands, and then insist that some unrequired thing done by us has the impress of that heavenly grace.

1919 Eng. Jrnl. 8 193 Miss Alice S. Botkin..says that this was a spontaneous, unrequired composition inspired by an old Spanish song.

1936 J. A. Lester & E. F. Lindquist in H. E. Hawkes et al. Constr. & Use Achievem. Exam. viii. 408 These objectives of the English studies..are to be evaluated through the record of unrequired ‘free’ reading done by the student at his leisure.

1999 R. Haight Jesus viii. 228 His unrequired free choice of death is..an infinite satisfaction because it was simultaneously an act of God.

1702 S. Stoddon Dissenters No Schismaticks iv. 160 While it [sc. kneeling] was us'd only as a supposed necessary Gesture of Reverence, it was but a Superstition, an unrequired Act of Will-worship and Humility.

1705 J. Dunton Life & Errors ii. 55 I'd never over-reach a Customer to enrich my Master, this is an unaccountable Piece of Folly, and commonly unrequir'd, unless the Master take greater Liberties in Sin, than he'd allow his Apprentices, in any other Case.

1829 ‘H. Hawthorn’ Visit to Babylon 144 Some lovely, voluptuous, and fertile spot, where labour was unrequired, and where the very air must have a tendency to impart [etc.].

1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre III. ix. 237 He would make me sensible that it was a superfluity, unrequired by him.

1887 Jrnl. Mental Sci. 32 567 The conversion of an unrequired poorhouse.

1900 C. C. Abbott In Nature's Realm 247 The use of poisons by the hundredweight as insecticides will be unrequired.

1943 E. F. Adolph Physiol. Regulations ix. 194 The camel can store much ‘unrequired’ water in its peculiar stomach.

1962 V. S. Naipaul Middle Passage ii. 58 The colonial society..never required efficiency, it never required quality, and these things, because unrequired, became undesirable.

2003 L. Tythacott Surrealism & Exotic i. 37 Meaningless, useless, outmoded, unrequired—these were objects outpaced by society.