1. Not having received the rite of confirmation.
1565. Calfhill, Answ. Martiall, 99. I besech you, how many be suffered to dye, vnconfirmed.
2. Not strengthened or fortified; not yet made firm or sure.
c. 1592. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, III. iii. Then were my thoughts so fraile And vnconfirm’d, And I was chain’d to follies of the world.
1609. Daniel, Civ. Wars, IV. xxxvi. In th’ unconfirmed troupes, much fear did breed.
1706. Rowe, Ulysses, IV. A boy!… feeble in Infancy, Essaying the first Rudiments of Manhood, With Strength unpractis’d yet, and unconfirm’d.
1750. Phil. Trans., XLVI. 399. As I observed the Callus to be unconfirmed, I re-applied the Bandage.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, I. 98. Thoughts of politic craftiness arose. Within him, and his faith, yet unconfirm’d, Determin’d to prompt action.
† b. Uninstructed, ignorant. Obs.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. ii. 19. After his … vntrained, or rather vnlettered, or ratherest vnconfirmed fashion. Ibid. (1599), Much Ado, III. iii. 120. Con. I wonder at it. Bor. That shewes thou art vnconfirm’d.
c. Not supported or established by further evidence; uncorroborated.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 29. Nor was long His witness unconfirm’d.
1781. V. Knox, Liberal Education, Concl. 359. Their [sc. French] recent histories are destitute of dignity, both of diction and sentiment, and unconfirmed by authorities.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 26 Aug., 2/1. The report that 300 of these brave fellows have been cut to pieces is unconfirmed.
3. Not formally confirmed or sanctioned.
1656. Bramhall, Replic., ii. 105. Therefore we give the same priviledges to a Councell unconfirmed … and to a Councell confirmed by the Pope.
