ppl. a. [UN-1 8.]

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  † 1.  Without having deserved it; undeserving.

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c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, III. 1021. O were it leful þat I pleyne of þe, That vndeserued suffrest Ialousie.

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1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 13. Some comen to the dole In happ, and … Drinke undeserved of the beste.

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1412–20.  Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 2407. And vndeserued [sc. of me] ben to me so trewe, Þat I ensure vpon my feith [etc.].

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a. 1536.  Calisto & Melib., A vj b. Yet vndeseruyd now thou comyst hydyr.

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1593.  Kyd, Lett. to Puckering, Wks. (1901), p. cviii. Atheisme,… which I was vndeserved chargd withall.

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  † b.  Without reason; unjustly. Obs.1

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c. 1570[?].  Bugbears, III. iv. 8. Vnderservde [sic] a thowsand tymes I wysh to see hym deade.

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  2.  Not deserved or merited (a) as a reward, favor, etc., (b) as a punishment, harm, etc.

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  (a)  1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 43. Bot as the whiel aboute went He yifth his graces undeserved.

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c. 1450.  Myrr. our Ladye, 132. That was hys othe, to gyue hymselfe to vs, A greate gyfte and vndeserued.

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1551.  Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, I. (1895), 20. Your great gentlenes to me, of my part vndeserued.

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1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., II. ix. 40. Let none presume To weare an vndeserued dignitie.

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1631.  Gouge, God’s Arrows, I. § 33. 54. The whole cause therfore resteth in God; even in his free grace, and undeserved love.

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1722.  Wodrow, Corr. (1843), II. 681. The undeserved kindness you have heaped on me.

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1825.  Scott, Talism., xxiii. Permit me rather to express … my gratitude for … this undeserved generosity.

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1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 459. He was widely known by the very undeserved appellation of Honest Tom.

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  (b)  1513.  More, Rich. III., Wks. 62. What speke we of losse, his vtter spoile and vndeserued distruccyon.

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1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 26. Hart of flint would rew The vndeserued woes and sorrowes, which ye shew.

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1644.  Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 61. The removal of an undeserved thraldom upon lerning.

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1777.  Sheridan, Sch. Scand., IV. i. He was a merchant in Dublin, but has been ruined by a series of undeserved misfortunes.

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1849.  Eastwick, Dry Leaves, 63. The undeserved injuries and insults which had been heaped on the Amirs.

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1896.  W. K. Leask, H. Miller, ii. 39. Undeserved denunciations of the dangers of Chartism.

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