ppl. a. Forms: (see BLESS v.). [UN-1 8.]

1

  1.  Not formally blessed or consecrated.

2

c. 1310.  in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 231. Þer ich finde a wiif þat liȝter is of barn,… Ȝif it be vnblisced, y croke it fot or arm.

3

1340.  Ayenb., 41. Huanne me stelþ … be kueade skele out of holy stede yblissede þinges oþer onblissede, huet þet hit by.

4

c. 1530.  More, Answ. Frith, Wks. 842/2. Whether the blessed sacrament be consecrate or vnconsecrate,… [he] biddeth care not but take it for all that vnblessed as it is.

5

1546.  Wyclif’s Wycket, A viij. Ye gyve vs after the breade wyne and water, and sometymes clene water vnblessed rather coniured.

6

  b.  Deprived of, excluded from, left without, a blessing or benediction.

7

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. ix. 54. He chose an halter from among the rest, And with it hung himselfe, vnbid vnblest.

8

1633.  Bp. Hall, Contempl., N. T., IV. xii. ‘Ungirt, unblessed,’ was the old word; as not ready till they were girded.

9

1687.  Dryden, Hind & P., II. 637. He breath’d his last, exposed to open air, And there his corps, unbless’d, is hanging still.

10

1757.  Gray, Bard, 102. Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unbless’d, unpitied, here to mourn.

11

1783.  Crabbe, Village, I. 346. The crowd retire distress’d, To think a poor man’s bones should lie unbless’d.

12

1818.  Byron, Ch. Har., IV. lxviii. Pass not unblest the Genius of the place!

13

1847.  H. Bushnell, Chr. Nurt., II. ii. This always unblessed, tedious look of sanctimony.

14

  2.  Not blessed in fortune or lot; unfortunate, wretched, miserable.

15

1340–70.  Alex. & Dind., 1124. Ȝe ben vn-blessed of lif, for … Þat ȝe holden so her holsome dedes Gret wante is of wo & wikkede paine.

16

c. 1375.  Cursor M., 13108 (Fairf.). Þat man salle vn-blessed be þe quilk trawes noȝt in me.

17

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 5883. That day the Troyens were glad…. But Ector was that day vnblessed, Off grace certes that day he myssed.

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c. 1450.  Myrr. our Ladye, 220. O moste blyssed of women, socoure vs vnblyssed synners.

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1592.  Warner, Alb. Eng., VII. xxxvii. 166. What might remaine but death for me that liued so vnblest?

20

1604.  Shaks., Oth., V. i. 34. Minion, your deere lyes dead, And your vnblest Fate highes.

21

1649.  Milton, Eikon., ix. 79. That unblest expedition to the Jle of Rhee.

22

1675.  Hobbes, Odyssey (1677), 25. Unblest Ulysses, who at Ilium Together with you fought.

23

a. 1721.  Prior, Fortune-Teller, 27. What matters, if unblest in love, How long, or short my life will prove?

24

1798.  Monthly Mag., IV. 48. Unchang’d, eternal be your misery. I rule you, and am only more unblest.

25

1848.  Bailey, Festus (ed. 3), 169. Which is more unblest Whose love is shunned or sought let time attest!

26

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. i. Gaslights flared in the shops with a haggard and unblest air.

27

  absol.  1814.  Wordsw., Excurs., II. 596. That poor Man taken hence to-day … must be deemed, I fear, Of the unblest.

28

  3.  Unhallowed, unholy; wicked, evil, malignant.

29

1388.  Wyclif, Ecclus. xxvii. 24. To schewe opynli the pryuytees of a frend, is dispeir of a soule vnblessid.

30

1426.  Audelay, Poems (Percy Soc.), 15. We were put in paradise to have wele withoutyn woo Hent we had unblest brokyn the commaundmentis of our Kyng.

31

c. 1450.  Mirk’s Festial, 219. Then sayde Laurens: ‘Vnblessyd, þes tormentys I haue ȝore desyred.’

32

c. 1520.  Skelton, Magnyf., 134. If Lyberte sholde lepe and renne where he lyst, It were no vertue, it were a thynge vnblyst.

33

1591.  Spenser, M. Hubberd, 915. For none but such as this bold Ape vnblest Can euer thriue in that vnluckie quest.

34

1610.  Bp. Carleton, Jurisd., 71. This vnblessed deuise of forgerie, being attempted in a number of decretall Epistles.

35

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 238. Such resting found the sole Of unblest feet.

36

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 229. Oats unblest, and Darnel domineers, And shoots its head above the shining Ears.

37

1761.  Gray, Odin, 35. Who is he, with voice unblest, That calls me from the bed of rest?

38

1793.  Holcroft, Lavater’s Physiog., i. 11. Wilt thou teach man the unblessed art of judging his brother by the ambiguous expressions of his countenance?

39

1800.  Coleridge, Christabel, II. 529. I had vowed with music loud To clear yon wood from thing unblest.

40

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. V. v. Why were not [they] … in their beds, that unblessed Varennes Night! Ibid. (1840), Heroes, v. 304. The world … can either have it as blessed continuous summer-sunshine, or as unblessed black thunder and tornado.

41

  4.  Not favored or made happy by or with something.

42

1743.  Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, I. xx. 15. My meagre Cup’s unblest With the rich Formian, or Falernian Vine.

43

1795.  Campbell, Elegy, 13. The cloudy heavens unblest by summer’s smile.

44

1844.  H. G. Robinson, Odes of Horace, I. xxxi. Nor let me an old age prolong, Unhonour’d or unblest by song.

45

1848.  W. H. Kelly, trans. L. Blanc’s Hist. Ten Y., II. 269. Lyons was plunged into a silence, unblessed with repose.

46

  Hence Unblessedness.

47

1549.  Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Rev. xix. 32. An euerlasting supper of al bitternes & vnblessednes wherof they maye eate and be partakers altogether.

48

1836.  T. Hook, G. Gurney, I. 141. Without having changed her state of single-unblessedness.

49

1881.  Bruce, Chief End Rev., vi. 302. The grace of God is represented as finding men in a state of serious moral corruption and consequent unblessedness.

50