unwedadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈwɛd/, U.S. /ˌənˈwɛd/ = unwedded adj.In quot. 1560 perhaps < un- prefix2 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > [adjective]
unbespouseda1200
unweddeda1230
single1303
solec1386
onec1395
unmarried1423
unwed1513
solute1554
unspoused1587
aneabil1609
matchlessa1652
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > [adjective] > free from or unattended by marriage
unwedded1804
unwed1816
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid vi. v. 27 Small childrin, and ȝoung damicellis vnwed.
1560 J. Heywood Fourth Hundred Epygrams lxxi. sig. Bvi We wolde wed the sooner.., showyng playne, That I should the sooner be vnwed agayne.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. i. 26 This seruitude makes you to keepe vnwed . View more context for this quotation
1790 A. Wheeler Westmorland Dial. 51 Be a gud lass,..en keep the sel unwed en tae can.
1816 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto III lv. 30 Though unwed, That love was pure.
1835 H. H. Milman Nala & Damayanti 91 Unwed wert thou in virgin bloom.
1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets xi. 353 Timas, whom unwed Persephone locked in her darksome bed.
1967 E. S. Gardner Case of Queenly Contestant (1973) viii. 103 I would keep on working as long as I was able. Then I would go to a home for unwed mothers and have my child.
1981 R. McClure Coram's Children x. 124 In 1764 forty-nine children were reclaimed by their parents, often unwed mothers.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
adj.1513