a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) ii. f. xlii^v Syth of our selfe we be insufficient, & all vntowarde to all goostly thynges.

1575 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians f. 252 If Satan did not vexe vs inwardly with spirituall tentations,..we should become vtterly careles, negligent, and vntoward to all good workes.

1594 R. Carew tr. J. Huarte Exam. Mens Wits i. 5 Those who are vntoward for one science, are very apt to another.

1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer Pref. 713 Yea, so untoward was I to conforme My Will,..That [etc.].

1665 T. Manley tr. H. Grotius De Rebus Belgicis 73 The Captains were yet not skilled in managing their Men, and the Men were untoward to be commanded.

1557 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Diall Princes Prol. f. Aij Greate travayle taketh a scole maister in teaching an untowarde scholler.

1592 T. Nashe Strange Newes F 4 Lamentable, that an indifferent vntoward ciuill Lawyer..should be no more set by but..thrust aside.

1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. Evj Why maye not we inquyre..if the matter to vntoward, Hath made his style to harde.

1602 B. Jonson Poetaster i. i. sig. A3^v Nay looke, what a rascally vntoward thing this Poetry is. View more context for this quotation

1627 R. Sanderson Ten Serm. 117 God..,out of mankinde, as out of an vntoward lumpe of clay,..maketh vp vessels for the vse of his Sanctuary.

1664 S. Butler Hudibras: Second Pt. ii. ii. 88 A Vow, Which afterward he found untoward, And stubborn to be kept.

1693 W. Congreve Old Batchelour iv. iii. 35 Pish! This is the untoward'st Lock [of hair].

1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 278 A piece of untoward ground..cannot be improved with equal success in any other way.

1831 T. Carlyle Let. 23 Sept. in Coll. Lett. T. & J. W. Carlyle (1976) V. 443 A noisy untoward Lodginghouse.

1833–5 J. H. Newman Hist. Sketches (1873) 3rd Ser. 49 Basil had to deal on all hands with most untoward materials.

1875 B. Stewart & P. G. Tait Unseen Universe (1878) ii. 81 There is a periodicity even in such untoward phenomena.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. viii. sig. H2 But very vncouth sight was to behold, How he did fashion his vntoward pace.

1592 J. Lyly Gallathea ii. i. sig. C1^v I neither like my gate, nor my garments, the one vntoward, the other vnfit.

1629 J. Ford Lovers Melancholy v. 85 I am..so poore and feeble, That my vntoward ioynts can scarcely creepe vnto the graue.

1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. x. 433 Their..Ploughes..are only fastned with Straw..to their bare Rumps, marching..three or foure in a Ranke, and as many men hanging by the ends of that vntoward Labour.

1658 W. Johnson tr. F. Würtz Surgeons Guid ii. xviii. 125 I will write now of Knees that are much pained..and grow untoward and unshaped.

1763 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting III. i. 62 His drawing even of the neck and shoulders..[was] incorrect and untoward.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1739 I. 76 Accompanying his thoughts with certain untoward actions [ante ‘improperly called convulsions’].

1570 T. Wilson tr. Demosthenes 3 Orations vii. 95 Thorowe the Lacedemonians vntowarde lucke.

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 238 The diseases, the debts, the hard usage of men to their owne wives, and the untoward life betweene them.

1787 ‘P. Pindar’ Lyric Odes to Royal Academicians (ed. 5) vii. 19 The courtly Abington's untoward Star Wanted her reputation much to mar.

1805–6 W. Wordsworth Char. Happy Warrior 68 Who, with a toward or untoward lot,..Plays, in the many games of life, that one [etc.].

1868 J. E. T. Rogers Man. Polit. Econ. ii. 102 Man..should have a..reserve from which he can draw, when the times are untoward.

1878 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. (ed. 2) III. xviii. 88 No untoward omen..threw a shadow over the second epoch of the war.

1898 ‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner xxx Percy..looked back later to this as one of his most untoward hours.

1658 T. White in C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David (1872) III. Ps. lxxiii. 17 They came to a very wicked man's house, where they had very untoward entertainment.

a1665 K. Digby Jrnl. Voy. to Mediterranean (1868) 57 Because idlenesse should not fixe their mindes vpon any vntoward fansies.

1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 161 Some Men there are who have made a very untoward use of this.

1709 J. Strype Ann. Reformation i. 44 The popish priests..took frequent occasion..to speak very untoward words against the Queen.

1807 W. Wordsworth Resolution & Independence in Poems I. 92 And I with these untoward thoughts had striven.

1682 H. More Annot. Lux Orientalis 95 in Two Choice & Useful Treat. If you para~phrase (me) thus, My Hypostasis consisting of my Humane and Divine Nature, it will be as untoward sence.

1701 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World I. v. 225 It seems..untoward, to inquire whether a thing be,..before we know what it is we inquire about.

1733 G. Berkeley Theory of Vision §6. 10 Such is the ill effect of untoward Defences and Explanations of our Faith.