1. Not called or summoned; not invited.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 832. And I to consaile vn-callid I can noȝt þar-on.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, 243. Þis Hillarius come to þis cowncell vncallid.
a. 1500. in Ratis Raving, etc., 9. Be curtas ay in company: To consell cum þow nocht wncald.
1533. More, Debell. Salem, Wks. 973/1. The ordinary shal know who can tell more, and will also if they be called and sworen, and wyll not vncalled and vnsworen, tel no tale at all.
1587. Harrison, England, II. xvi. (1877), 280. Yet were they not so narrowlie taken, but that a third part of this like multitude was left vnbilled and vncalled.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 523. Hee boulder now, uncall’d before her stood.
1697. Dryden, Virgil, Postscr. For who would give physic to the great, when he is uncalled?
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, X. iii. [He] would, uncalled, have given his whole attention.
1810. Shelley, Spectral Horseman, 20. The shade of a murdered man, Who has rushed uncalled to the throne of his God.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, IV. 84. He came uncalled wherever grief had come.
1861. Mrs. H. Wood, East Lynne, III. xix. Uncalled, unprepared,… you hurried that unfortunate man into eternity.
b. transf. Of things.
a. 1586. Sidney, Astr. & Stella, Sonn. lxi. Oft with true sighes, oft with vncalled teares,… I Stella’s eyes assaid.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 175, ¶ 2. The knowledge of crimes intrudes uncalled and undesired.
c. 1790. Cowper, Comm. Milton’s P. L., II. 220. Rhyme is apt to come uncalled, and to writers of blank verse is often extremely troublesome.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1865), II. 15. Sudden tears uncalled spring up.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, vi. Bestowing frequent sudden uncalled hugs and kisses on her friend.
2. spec. Not called or summoned by some power or influence to a special function or state.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. xviii. § 9. 144 b. They must confesse yt the honour is not of God, into which they haue with wicked rashnes broken in vncalled.
1619. Hieron, Wks., I. 11. All preaching, all exercises of religion ayme at one of these two, either to conuert those that are vncalled, or to builde vp those which are conuerted.
1662. H. Hibbert, Body Divinity, II. 155. We pray thee then, O Heavenly Father, to call the uncalled Jew and Gentile.
1690. C. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 142. Such as continue in an uncall’d condition yield up themselves to Satan.
c. 1700. Prior, Sat. Poets, 128. Something beyond the uncall’d drudging Tribe, Beyond what Bayes can write, or I describe.
b. Not invited to a pastorate.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., vii. (1860), 74/1. Better be a poor mason, better be anything honest, however humble,—than an un-called Minister.
3. With for: Not called for; not asked for or requested; unnecessary, intrusive.
Hence, in recent use, uncalled-for-ness.
pred. a. 1610. Healey, Theophrastus (1636), 90. When the people consult,… hee steppeth forth uncalled for.
1623. Massinger, Dk. Milan, I. iii. Enter Francisco. Sforza. Why, uncalled for?
1824. Miss L. M. Hawkins, Annaline, II. 168. The thought comes uncalled for into my mind.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. p. xv. The course he had adopted was uncalled for.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, II. lxvii. 242. No one could now press uncalled-for into his study.
attrib. 1635–56. Cowley, Davideis, III. ad fin., Uncall’d for sighs oft from her bosome flew.
1817. Bennet, in Parl. Deb., 340. He would oppose … this arbitrary, impolitic, and uncalled-for measure.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxix. 393. The uncalled for administration of mercury.
1874. Burnand, My Time, vi. 50. A satisfactory issue of an uncalled-for interference.
4. Of capital: Not called up.
1882. Pall Mall G., 26 July, 6/1. The whole of the remaining uncalled capital would have to be called up in order to pay the creditors.
