Undefiled

ppl. a. [UN-¹ 8.]

  1.  Not rendered morally foul or impure; unpolluted, untainted.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 725. He com þyder ryȝt as a chylde, Harmlez, trwe & vnde-fylde.

c. 1440.  Capgrave, Life St. Kath., V. 576. He offred hym-selue on-to the fadyr of blis An oste ful clene, ondefiled with synne.

1504.  C’tess Richmond, trans. De Imitatione, IV. ii. (1893), 263. Lorde, kepe my herte and my body vndefyled.

1561.  T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 13. The law of the Lord (sayth he) is vndefiled, conuerting soules.

1628.  Sir W. Mure, Spir. Hymne, 16. That I may spreade thy praise, thy might, With heart pure, vndefyl’de.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. iii. § 7. He had a pure and undefiled soul.

1784.  Cowper, Task, III. 260. Immortal Hale!… fam’d For sanctity of manners undefil’d.

a. 1839.  Praed, Legend of Drachenfels, Poems, 1864, I. 150. Thou, in whose all-searching sight No human thing is undefiled.

1851.  Froude, Short Stud. (1867), I. 379. To … keep themselves if possible undefiled by so much as one corrupt thought.

  absol.  1611.  Bible, Ps. cxix. 1. Blessed are the vndefiled in the way.

1837.  Monsell, Hymn, ‘God of that glorious gift,’ v. Make him and keep him Thine own child, Meek follower of the Undefiled!

  b.  Sexually pure or unpolluted; chaste.

c. 1450.  Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.), 141. A mayd undefyled I hope he xal me preve.

c. 1470.  Pol., Rel., of L. Poems (1903), 4. Thove vergyne knight of whom we synge, Vn-Deffiled sithe thy begynnyng.

1531.  Elyot, Gov., III. xviii. But whan he knewe that they were of noble lignage, he sent them defiled to their parentes and kynnes folke.

1539.  Cranmer, Heb. xiii. 4. Wedlocke is to be had in honoure among all men, and the bed vndefyled.

1611.  Bible, Wisd., xiv. 24. They kept neither liues nor mariages any longer vndefiled.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 761. Perpetual Fountain of Domestic sweets, Whose Bed is undefil’d and chast pronounc’t.

1710.  Steele, Tatler, No. 210, ¶ 6. I have lived a pure and undefiled Virgin these Twenty seven Years.

1793.  Cowper, A Tale, 6. Husband … and wife may boast Their union undefil’d.

1816.  Byron, Siege Corinth, xxvii. She is safe … In heaven;… Far from thee, and undefiled.

  † 2.  Undefaced, unimpaired. Obs. rare.

1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 185. That mownte … in whom letters wryten [in dust] were founde vndefilede [L. illibatæ] at the end of the yere.

c. 1460.  Oseney Reg., 14. And what-so-euer thyng … may be i-purchased, to þem or to þere successours … vnbroke and undefylyd [L. illibata] abyde.

  3.  Not rendered foul or dirty. Also fig.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 32. Dan Chaucer, well of English vndefyled.

1660.  J. H[arding], Basil. Valent. Chariot Antim., 3. The Chaff being separated from the uncommix’d and undefiled Corn.

1718.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Verses written in the Chiosk at Pera, 34. The streams still murmur, undefil’d with rain.

1821.  Wordsw., Mem. Tour Continent, XXXIII. 35. A sea-green river,… With current swift and undefiled.

1826.  Scott, Woodst., ii. Perhaps it is a punishment on me, who thought the loyalty of my house was like undefiled ermine.

  4.  Not violated or desecrated.

1586.  J. Mush, Life Margt. Clitherow, in Morris, Troub. Cath. Forefathers, Ser. III. (1877), 363. Insomuch as now not one Religious house standeth, not one altar unrased and undefiled.

1715.  Rowe, Lady Jane Grey, II. Mercyful, great Defender! Preserve thy holy Altars undefil’d.

1818.  Byron, Ch. Har., IV. cliv. In this eternal ark of worship undefiled.

1865.  Miss Yonge, Clever Woman of Family, I. ix. 225. He did think he had one lawn in the world undefiled by those horrible [croquet] hoops!

  Hence Undefiledly adv.; Undefiledness.

1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt. v. 24. But I wyll haue Matrimonye obserued more holyly and *vndefyledly amonge them that professe the new lawe.

1583.  Golding, Calvin on Deut. xxxiv. 200. Wee cannot serue him vndefyledly, except wee bee separated from the defylings that are contrarie to him.

1868.  Nettleship, Ess. Browning, 215. Here only could he be led to yearn undefiledly … after truths.

1571.  Golding, Calvin on Ps. li. 8. God requireth *undefylednesse in the inward partes.

1657[?].  Farindon, Serm., xii. (1672), I. 274. The colours and Beauty of it [sc. religion]; first, in its Purity…; secondly, its Vndefiledness, having no pollution.