Forms: α. 3–7 vncle (5 wncle), 4– uncle (5–6 oncle). β. 4, 6–8 unkle (vn-), 6–7 unckle (vn-, 7 wn-). γ. 4 unkel, 5 vnkel, 6 unkell (vn-), 5–6 vn-, unkil(l, -kyll (5 hunckyl, oncyll, ownkyll, 6 onkill); 5 vn-, uncull, 6 unckall. See also NUNCLE. [a. AF. uncle, OF. uncle, oncle (mod.F. oncle, whence G., Da., Sw. onkel), = Pr. oncle, avoncle, Roum. unchiu:—L. avunculus mother’s brother.]
1. A brother of one’s father or mother; also, an aunt’s husband (= uncle-in-law).
α. c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 20/27. To his vncle he gan go, Þe Erchebischop of caunterburi.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 1937. Þre vnclen is moder adde.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 169. Þe duk … drow ys swerd anon, & wolde ys vncle þar-wiþ herte.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 389. Alisaundre exiled dwelled awhile wiþ his uncle in Epirus.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 3751. Iason … gan his vncle in ful lowe maner First to þanke.
1475. Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.), 15. Henry the vte … made Thomas Beauford then erle Dorset hys oncle capteyn of yt.
c. 1500. Melusine, xix. 97. For neuer I shall ete tyl that ye be hanged with your vncle.
c. 1520. Barclay, Jugurth, vi. (1557), 6 b. Se that ye worshipe and loue this Jugurth your worthy vncle.
1581. G. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 120 b. In families there are the Uncle and the Nephew, the Father in law and the Sonne in law [etc.].
1653. W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, 109. [This] signifieth … also the Uncle or Ant of the Querent by the fathers side.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., V. iii. At last he spak and won, And hopes to be our honest uncle’s son.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), IV. 214. Offering him the immediate payment of a debt due to his uncle.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 353. If the son, in this case, die without issue, and his uncle enter into the land.
1866. Geo. Eliot, Felix Holt, i. Your uncle thought I ought to have you to myself in the first hour or two.
β. c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 475. How may oure hyȝe prestis … be grettur worldly lordis þen … kyngus unklis ande kyngus sonys?
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Auunculus, the vnkle on the mothers side.
1584. Knaresb. Wills (Surtees), I. 145. Ric. Roundell ther unckle.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 696. King Edward the Fifth his Unkle by the mothers side.
a. 1699. Lady Halkett, Autobiog. (Camden), 32. Pretending his wife was dead,… and that her unckle Sir Ralph S. had assured them both of itt.
a. 1727. Newton, Chronol. Amended, ii. (1728), 239. Orus, with his mother Isis,… and unkle Typhon.
1779. Johnson, L. P., Pope, Wks. IV. 15. She was obliged to converse only with those from whom her unkle had nothing to fear.
γ. 1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 235. Herodias, þat was afterwarde Phelip his wif, þat was Aristobolus his eme and unkel.
1415. Sir T. Grey, in 43 Deputy Keeper Public Records, 585. Þe Erle of Somerset zowr uncull.
1451. Paston Lett., I. 202. On of myn unkyll men … told it myn unkill. Ibid. (1472), III. 41. Item, as for myn ownkyll William, I have spook with hym.
1539. Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889), 407. For as mych as my sayd unkyll ys well willyng.
1540. Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), II. 255. A true copie of your unckall ys testament and last will.
1570. Levins, Manip., 126. An Vnkil, auunculus.
b. Uncle-in-law, the husband of one’s aunt.
1561. Child-Marriages, 3. All the premisses this deponent knowis to be true, bie cause he is Vncle-in-lawe to the said Homfrey.
1667. Duchess of Newcastle, Life Duke of N. (1886), I. 2. These two brothers were partly bred with Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, their uncle-in-law.
1779. Mirror, No. 53, ¶ 8. Among the rest was my uncle-in-law’s partner.
c. In allusive use.
In the first two quots. directly from French usage.
1578. H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 275. Wheras other men accustome to visite their vncle when they determine to take truce for a time with their amorous trauailes.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Oncle, He is my neerest friend that fills my bellie; or he is my kindest vncle who doth feed me.
1678. Ray, Prov., 227. She is one of mine Aunts that made mine Uncle go a begging.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., s.v., He is gone to visit his uncle, saying of one who leaves his wife soon after marriage.
d. Welsh uncle (see later quots.).
1747. T. Carte, Hist. England, I. 210. Aeddon, who was welsh-uncle to Rydderch, made his escape to the Isle of Man.
1820. Southey, Wesley, II. 108. He was placed under the care of the husband of his father’s first cousin; which remote relationship comes under the comprehensive term of a Welsh Uncle.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq., II. App. 645. A ‘Welsh uncle,’ that is the first cousin of a parent.
e. Dutch uncle (see quots.).
1838. J. C. Neal, Charcoal Sk., 201. If you keep a cutting didoes, I must talk to you both like a Dutch uncle.
1853. N. & Q., 1st Ser. VII. 65/2. In some parts of America, when a person has determined to give another a regular lecture, he will often be heard to say, ‘I will talk to him like a Dutch uncle’; that is, he shall not escape this time.
1869. East Anglian, III. 350. There were the squires on the bench, but I took heart, and talked to ’em like a Dutch uncle.
1873. Helps, Anim. & Mast., v. 131. Milverton … began reasoning with the boys; talking to them like a Dutch uncle … about their cruelty.
2. Used in addressing or designating one’s uncle.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 210. Nay blame haf I, my vncle, quod she þenne.
1547. Edward VI., in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. II. 148. Derest Vncle,… we have at good length vnderstanded … the good success [etc.].
c. 1570[?]. Bugbears, V. vii. 97. O good vncle Donatus, ther is cawse I shold love you.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. iv. 49. Pray you Vncle, tel Mist. Anne the iest how my Father stole two Geese out of a Pen, good Vnckle.
1640. Brome, Antipodes, III. v. Beg. Sir excuse me…. Gal. Yet good unkle.
1656. Stanley, Hist. Philos., Ded. The gratitude of, Dear Uncle, Your most affectionate Nephew.
1700. N. Rous, in Jrnl. Friends’ Hist. Soc. (1912), IX. 184. With mine and Wifes … kind respects to Unckle and Aunt Abrams,… I rest [etc.].
1793. Mrs. Inchbold, Midn. Hour, II. Do not be alarmed, uncle; force is seldom used but to her that is willing.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxiii. Uncle, you are a good huntsman.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lxxxiv. When … boys of thine Had babbled ‘Uncle’ on my knee.
b. local and U.S. Used as a form of address to non-relatives, esp. to elderly men.
1793. Gentl. Mag., Dec., 1083/2. It is common in Cornwall to call all elderly persons Aunt or Uncle, prefixed to their names.
1853. Lowell, Wks. (1890), I. 16. Formerly, every New England town had its representative uncle.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xx. ‘Put this coat on your back, uncle,’ says some one.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 492. Uncle, used in the Middle and Southern States in accosting an elderly colored man.
transf. 1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Plato, ad fin. Plain old uncle as he [Socrates] was,… the rumour ran, that [etc.].
c. Uncle Sam, the government (or people) of the United States of America.
The history of the expression has been traced by A. Matthews in Proc. Amer. Antiq. Soc. (N.S. 1908), XIX. 21–65; see also R. H. Thornton, Amer. Glossary, 916. The suggestion that it arose as a facetious interpretation of the letters U.S. is as old as the first recorded instances, and later statements connecting it with different government officials of the name of Samuel appear to be unfounded.
1813. Troy Post, 7 Sept. (Matthews). Loss upon loss, and no ill luck stir[r]ing but what lights upon Uncle Sam’s shoulders.
1839. N. Hawthorne, in Longfellow, Life (1891), I. 334. Uncle Sam is rather despotic as to the disposal of my time. Ibid. (1850), Scarlet L., Introd. (1852), 3. The thirteen stripes turned vertically,… thus indicating that a civil … post of Uncle Sam’s government is here established.
1884. Harper’s Mag., June, 48/1. To cheat Uncle Sam in revenue matters is regarded as a … venial sin.
d. Uncle George, King George III.
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, iii. We make uncle George suffer for the stores.
3. slang. A pawnbroker.
Usually preceded by a possessive pronoun.
1756. Toldervy, Hist. 2 Orphans, IV. 113. The next week carried the new cloaths, which they bought at Bath, to their uncle’s (if Humphry’s expression may be used).
1796. Grose, The Olio, 230. A shirt and hose I’d at my uncle’s lodg’d.
1807. E. S. Barrett, Rising Sun, II. 131. The bed-furniture was carefully preserved by my uncle, and when … I had gained a bed, and money enough to redeem the furniture, I put them up.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xii. ‘Dine in your frock,… if your dress-coat is in the country.’ ‘It is at present at an uncle’s.’
1869. M. Collins, Ivory Gate, II. i. 19. You may want to take it to your uncle, you know, now that your secretaryship is about to be abolished.
4. appositive and Comb., as uncle devil, father, -guardian, -marquis; uncle-given adj.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 393. My Vnckle Father, and Aunt Mother are deceiu’d.
1638. Ford, Fancies, II. ii. Our great uncle-marquis, Disabled from his cradle.
1789. M. Madan, trans. Persius, II. 292, note. The relish or savour of morose uncle-guardians.
1828. Lights & Shades, I. 27. At the very first uncle-given dinner.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 93. Any leg or arm I saw that uncle devil pulling out to place within reach of the crocodiles.
Hence Unclehood. rare.
1828. William Sidney Walker, Lett., 8 May, in Poet. Remains (1852), p. xcix. I am greatly rejoiced in prospect of my unclehood—but there is a proverb about chickens; what if my niece should turn out no better than a nephew?
1846. B. Barton, Select. (1849), 100. Those five uncles of mine, or uncle-ets, rather, for they grew not up to mature uncle-hood.
1871. Mrs. Riddell, A Life’s Assize, xv. 54/2. The settlements, on which Lord Mayfort, in his capacity of unclehood, duly insisted, were perfectly correct and satisfactory.
1907. J. K. Bangs, Alice in Blunderland, v. 74. You can talk all you please about Universal Brotherhood, Unlimited Sisterhood, and the Infinity of Unclehood, but all of these movements put together haven’t done as much to promote the equality of everybody as that Municipaphone idea of mine.
