a. Forms: (see CLEAN a.). [OE. unclǽne: see UN-1 7 and CLEAN a.]
1. Morally impure or defiled; unchaste: a. Of persons.
a. 900. Cynewulf, Crist, 1017. Woruldmonna sco unclæne ʓecynd.
a. 1100. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 308. Incestus, unclæne.
c. 1325. Spec. Gy Warw., 834. For ȝit wole he noht sinne fle: I wis, vnclene he shal be.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 636. Þanne schulle ȝe for ȝour sinne soffre paine, For ȝe unclene bi cleped & cleuen in ȝour sinne.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 364/2. Onclene, immundus, inpurus.
1490. in Somerset Med. Wills (1901), 292. After her deceese, other else that she mary, other leve unclene of her body ayenst the lawes of God.
1526. Tindale, Eph. v. 5. No whormonger, other vnclene person, or coveteous person.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 240. Quhen he gathiret his vile, vnhonest, maist jmpure, and vncleine secte.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 1098. That this new commer, Shame, There sit not, and reproach us as unclean.
1680. Charac. Town-miss (Hindley, III), 8. She becomes a Loathsome thing, too unclean to enter into Heaven.
1738. Wesley, Ps. V. ii. In Souls unholy and unclean Thou never canst delight. Ibid. (1755), Jrnl. (1761), III. 5. The fierce, unclean, brutish, blasphemous Antinomians.
absol. 1382. Wyclif, Eccl. ix. 2. Alle thingus euenli comen … to the goode and to the euele, to the clene and to the vnclene.
1535. Coverdale, Ibid. It goeth … with the good & cleane as with the vncleane.
1569. J. Sanford, trans. Agrippa’s Van. Artes, lviii. 83 b. Sinners with the faithfull,… the vncleane with ye cleane.
b. Of thoughts, conduct, etc.
a. 900. Cynewulf, Crist, 1316. Þær we nu maʓon … ʓeseon on ussum sawlum … unclæne inʓeþoncas.
971. Blickl. Hom., 25. Moniʓe men syndon þe … beoþ besmitene mid þem unclænan firen-luste.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7208. Vor prustes mid vnclene honden & mid lechors mod Al isoyled sacrieþ godes fless & is blod.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28509. I har þam wit delt … Wit handling vnhende, kissyng vnclene.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 710. Now haf þay skyfted my skyl & scorned natwre, & henttez þem in heþyng an vsage vn-clene.
c. 1400. Prymer, 49. From vnclene þouȝtis, lord, deliuere us!
c. 1480. Henryson, Test. Cres., 285. Thus hir leuing vnclene and Lecherous Scho wald returne on me and my Mother.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 84 b. With elacyon of mynde, or other vycyous and vnclene thoughtes.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 1. Then sal thay … cause them to put away baudrie & vnclene sangis.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. i. § 3. It is mere imposture … to offer to the author of truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie.
1651. [see 2].
1707. Watts, Hymn, ‘Vain are the Hopes,’ i. Their Hearts by Nature [are] all unclean.
1728. Pope, Dunciad, II. 99. Her servants … List’ning delighted to the jest unclean Of link-boys vile.
1781. Cowper, Tiroc., 735. If thy table be indeed unclean, Foul with excess, and with discourse obscene.
1889. R. Buchanan, in Contemp. Rev., Dec., 925. Unclean sexual pathology … now threatens the Drama.
2. Unclean spirit, a wicked spirit; a demon. Also transf.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Mark i. 26. Se gast unclænæ … of-eode from him.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 144. Spiracula, unclænra gasta wunungstow.
c. 1200. Ormin, 4635. Forr deofell iss unnclene gast, & lufeþþ unclænnesse.
1382. Wyclif, Mark i. 23. In the synagoge of hem was a man in an vnclene spirit.
a. 1400. New Test. (Paues), Acts v. 16. Hem þat wore traueiled wiþ vnclene spirittes.
[1534. Tindale, Luke iv. 33. A man which had a sprete of an vncleane devell.]
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt. xii. 56 b. Whan the vnclene spirite is gone out of a man.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. viii. 38. The spirit of man, when it produceth unclean actions, is ordinarily called an unclean spirit.
1727. De Foe, Syst. Magic., I. ii. (1840), 53. A cage of devils, and as the text calls them, unclean spirits.
1861. Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Supplices, 637, note. Hence μιάστωρ became a general term for an unclean spirit, or evil genius.
1870. Dickens, E. Drood, i. He has to withdraw himself to a lean arm-chair … until he has got the better of this unclean spirit of imitation.
3. Of animals: Regarded as defiled or impure, and esp. as unfit to be eaten on that account. Hence also of food.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. xxvii. (1890), 8. Mid þy seo æ moniʓ þing bewereð to etanne swa swa unclæne.
a. 1000. Colloq. Ælfric, in Wr.-Wülcker, 93. Hwæt ʓif hit unclæne beoþ fixas? Ic utwyrpe þa unclænan ut, & ʓenime me clæne to mete.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1960. I warn yow als-sua all be-deine Ete o na best o kind vn-clene.
1382. Wyclif, Lev. xi. 8. Ne towche ȝe the careyns, for thei ben vnclene to ȝow.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11185. Let hir bones with baret abide in this aire, As a caren vncleane, for hir curst dedis.
1535. Coverdale, Hosea ix. 3. But Ephraim … eateth vncleane thinges amonge the Assirians.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxviii. § 1. They are Dogges, swine, vncleane beasts.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, VII. ii. 497. They hunted … vncleane beasts, as snakes, lizards, locusts and wormes.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 328. Nor mention I Meats by the Law unclean, or offer’d first To Idols.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), I. 347. Why are those animals pronounced unclean?
1845. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 18. The distinctions of clean and unclean meats.
1854. Badham, Halieut., 61. The remarkable Divine interdict obliging the Jews to abstain from certain fish as unclean.
1864. Pusey, Lect. Daniel (1876), 322. Eating of unclean food.
b. In general use: Ceremonially impure.
c. 1200. Ormin, 1712. He wass unnclene þohh Þatt daȝȝ anan till efenn.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1867. Aȝte unclene ne wulde he beren, for he dredde him it sulde him deren.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 19932. Nu wit sight i haf it sene Þat o man-kind es nan vnclene.
1382. Wyclif, Lev. xii. 2. She shal be vnclene seuen dayes.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 57. A woman þat was delyuerde of a man-chyld sculd be holden vnclene by þe lawe vii dayes aftyr hur burth.
1535. Coverdale, Lev. xi. 38. Whan there is water poured vpon the sede, and afterwarde eny soch deed carcase falleth theron, then shall it be vncleane vnto you.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Jack a Lent, Wks. 119/1. I hold it a conscience to abstaine from flesh-eating in Lent: not that I thinke it to bee vncleane to the cleane.
1643. Caryl, Expos. Job, I. 1326. The uncleanness of the giver renders his gift unclean.
1836. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm. (ed. 2), II. xxi. 335. The Gentiles were no longer common or unclean.
1855. Pusey, Doctr. Real Presence, Note S. 429. But if he who is merely unclean … has so fearful a judgment, how much more will he, who is in sin,… draw upon himself a more dreadful punishment!
transf. 1880. Miss Braddon, Just as I am, xxvii. Avonmore is one of the genteelest towns in England. There is positively nothing common or unclean in it.
4. Not physically clean; dirty, filthy, foul. Of the tongue: Coated with fur.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 91. Þu art lodlich & vnclene Bi þine neste ich hit mene.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8969. Is þis wel ido Þat þou þes vnclene limes handlest & kust so?
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 179. For who so wole his handes lime, Thei mosten be the more unclene.
a. 1400. Octavian, 885. Clement broght forthe schylde and spere, That were uncomely for to were, Alle sutty, blakk, and unclene.
1440. J. Shirley, Dethe K. James (1818), 17. The Kyng … cryed … that they shuld cume with shettes, and drawe hym up owt of that uncleyne place of the privay.
1552. Huloet, Vncleane,… Loke in filthy and fowle.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., III. iii. 36. To cast away honestie vppon a foule slut, were to put good meate into an vncleane dish.
1609. Dekker, Gull’s Horn-bk., iii. 14. To carry away all noisome filth that is swept out of vncleane corners.
1683. Burnet, trans. More’s Utopia, 92. Nor do they suffer any thing that is foul or unclean to be brought within their Towns.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 423. As soon as they see an unclean tongue, an emetic is pronounced unquestionably necessary.
1864. Hazlitt, in E. P. P., III. 131. The moist and unclean thumbs of a wide circle of readers.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 12 May, 5/2. A common way of introducing it to the system is by the use of an unclean instrument.
absol. 1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xxxiv. 4. Of the vnclene what shal ben clensid?
† b. Of air or smells: Foul, impure. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1639. The clowdes hom clede in vnclene ayre.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 35. Al this is preef of holsum aier and clene, And ther as is contrair is aier vnclene. Ibid., IV. 971. From bathes aliene, vnclene odure,… auyse Thee wel to been.
c. Of land: Foul with weeds, etc. rare–1.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., II. 74. The lond vnclene al doluen up mot be, Of rootis, fern, & weed, to mak hit fre.
d. Of fish: In an unhealthy or unwholesome condition.
1861. Act 24–5 Vict., c. 109 § 14. No Person shall … wilfully take any unclean or unseasonable Salmon.
1883. Standard, 13 Jan., 3/6. Summoned for being in the possession of five unclean salmon.
