Uncommon

a. (and adv.). [UN-¹ 7.]

  1.  Not possessed in common. rare.^–1

1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John xiv. 85 b. Betwene vs two is no vnlykenes, or any thyng vncommon as touchyng the hier, and our diuine nature.

  2.  Not commonly (to be) met with; not of ordinary occurrence; unusual, rare.

1611.  Cotgr., Incommune, vncommon; or, not common.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., VI. vi. 209. ’Tis so uncommon a thing to see Tulips last till Roses come to be blown.

1676.  Glanvill, Ess., vi. 28. To give us some general notice of those uncommon Events which they foresee.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 421, ¶ 2. Whatever is New or Uncommon is apt to delight the Imagination.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., V. § 20. Nor is it an uncommon thing to behold ignorance and zeal united in men.

1770.  Junius Lett., xli. (1788), 227. Yours is not an uncommon character.

1818.  Byron, Juan, I. i. I want a hero: an uncommon want, When every year and month sends forth a new one.

1884.  Thompson, Tumours of Bladder, 1. There is little doubt that these growths are by no means uncommon.

  absol.  1806.  Surr, Winter in Lond., II. 58. He was compelled to admit, that the uncommon is nevertheless the possible.

  3.  Unusual in amount, extent, or degree; remarkably great; above the ordinary.

1700.  Prior, Carm. Sec., xxiii. She, from the noble Precipices thrown, Comes rushing with uncommon Ruin down.

1736.  Berkeley, Disc., Wks. III. 427. Such bad notions have … been propagated with uncommon industry in these kingdoms.

1774.  J. Bryant, Mythol., II. 100. Semiramis, a woman of uncommon endowments, and great personal charms.

1825.  Cobbett, Rur. Rides, 450. He seems to have taken uncommon pains in the execution of this work.

1864.  Froude, Short Stud. (1867), I. 2. He was a man of uncommon power.

  4.  Of an unusual type or character; exceptional in kind or quality. Also absol.

1705.  Addison, Italy, Pref. His masterly and uncommon Observations on the Religion and Governments of Italy.

1758.  S. Hayward, Serm., xvii. 550. We could not but value so uncommon a friend.

1819.  Shelley, Peter Bell 3rd, IV. xvi. The Devil was no uncommon creature.

1882.  W. Sharp, Rossetti, iii. 105. The spiritual is ever foreign to the material, the uncommon to the common.

  5.  Mus. (See quot.)

c. 1833.  Encycl. Metrop. (1845), V. 778. Uncommon chord, the chord of the sixth, not so called because unusual or improper, but in contradistinction to the common chord.

  6.  As adv. = UNCOMMONLY adv. 2. colloq. or dial.

1784.  New Spectator, No. 15. 1. To hear another of austere gravity, burst into an uncommon loud fit of laughter at a trifling incident.

1818.  Lady Morgan, Autobiog. (1859), 190. He was uncommon afraid of the custom-house officers.

1851.  Kingsley, Yeast, ix. He consorts with them poachers, sir, uncommon. I hope he ben’t one himself.

1891.  ‘J. S. Winter,’ Lumley, i. They’re an uncommon thirsty lot to-night.