v. [UN-2 7 and 4.]
1. intr. To remove the bonnet.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., V. xvii. With that he … Unbonneted, and by the wave Sate down his brow and hands to lave.
1850. Mrs. Gaskell, Lett., in Life of C. Brontë (1857), II. vii. 171. I went up to unbonnet, &c.; came down to tea.
b. esp. To do this as a mark of respect; to uncover. Also refl.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., vii. They hurried to bespeak favour by hastily unbonneting. Ibid. (1829), Anne of G., xxxii. Do nothing but rise, unbonnet yourself, and be silent.
1879. Dixon, Windsor, I. ii. 14. His pride disdained to unbonnet in the presence of a King of Scots.
2. trans. To remove the bonnet from.
1828. Miss Mitford, Village, II. 62. She sat down on her dear sofa, and was forthwith unclogged … and unbonneted.
1868. F. E. Paget, Lucretia, 183. When people attempt to exert a power which they do not possess,—be they judges unbonneting quakers, or bishops exasperated at ‘ribbons.’
1896. Daily News, 4 April, 2/3. Even a foreigner may only disregard the pious custom … at the imminent risk of being rudely ‘unbonneted’ by any devout Russian whom he may happen to encounter.
Hence Unbonneting vbl. sb.
c. 1844. Mrs. Browning, Lett. R. H. Horne, xliii. (1877), II. 24. I excuse the unbonneting. You are Orion, and I can estimate you.
