ppl. a. [UN-1 8 b.]
1. Not beaten or struck.
a. 1275. Prov. Ælfred, 448, in O. E. Misc., 129. Betere is child vnboren þenne vnbeten.
a. 1635. Corbet, Iter Bor., Poems (1647), 12. His Mare went truer then his Chronicle; And even for Conscience sake unspurr’d, unbeaten, Brought us sixe miles, and turn’d taile to New-Eaton.
b. Not pounded; not broken up or softened by pounding.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 515. Yoong mice being beaten into small bits or peeces…. The same being vnbeaten and roasted.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improvement, 169. Stockfish whilst it is unbeaten is called Buckhorne, because it is so tough; when it is beaten upon the stock, it is termed stockfish.
1903. Westm. Gaz., 3 June, 5/3. The daily labour required is the picking of 2 lb. of unbeaten or 4 lb. of beaten oakum.
2. Not beaten or trodden down. Also fig.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 294. The unbeaten waies make them [miles] seeme longer.
1634. W. Wood, New Engl. Prosp., I. ii. To hit home through the unbeaten Woods, was strange.
1690. T. Burnet, Theory Earth, II. 142. Natural reason can determine neither of these, sees no tract to follow in these unbeaten paths.
1716. Swift, Horace, III. ii. 12. Some new unbeaten passage to the sky.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. Pref. p. iii. He does not pretend that this design is completed;… he has trodden, comparatively, an unbeaten path.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 144. One of the first excursions made by that illustrious philosopher into the then unbeaten tracts of pneumatic chemistry.
1880. Miss Bird (title), Unbeaten Tracks in Japan.
3. Not conquered or defeated.
1757. Pol. Ballads (1860), II. 338. What joy it must be to a nation like Britain, To see such a Fleet return safe and unbeaten!
1884. St. L. Herbert, in Fortn. Rev., Feb., 243. The Basutos, unbeaten, are thrown back upon the Imperial Government.
4. Not scoured for game.
1882. N. Y. Tribune, 12 July. With these companions the sportsman is taken over unbeaten ground.
