[OE. unefen (f. un- UN-1 7 + efen EVEN a.), = OFris. oniovn (WFris. on-, ûneven, NFris. unēven, -īven), MDu. and Du. oneven, -effen, MLG. uneven, OHG. uneban (MHG. and G. uneben), ON. and Icel. ú-, ójafn (Norw. ujamn, Sw. ojemn, Da. ujevn).]
1. Unequal; not properly corresponding or agreeing. Now rare.
a. 900. Cynewulf, Crist, 1460. Hu þær wæs unefen racu unc ʓemæne!
c. 1225. Ancr. R., 312. Ure blod … aȝean his blode þet he shedde for us were ful unefne chaunge.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xlii. 1. My consciens and my ȝernynge is vneuen til þairs.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 279. Thou tellest forth, Hou that hire weyhte of love unevene Is unto thin.
c. 1450. Myrr. our Ladye, 104. Yf it were vneuen to the tother, or faylynge in eny thynge that an other had.
a. 1470. H. Parker, Dives & Pauper (W. de W., 1496), VII. xi. 293/1. By wyckednesse of false couetyse in the people men ben uneuen in rychesse.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. v. 9. So forth they traueld an vneuen payre,… A saluage man matcht with a Ladie fayre.
1609. J. Davies (Heref.), Holy Roode, Wks. (Grosart), I. 8/2. What diff’rence is betweene those Hymnes diuine!… They are as Fame, and Shame, no lesse vneu’n.
1669. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. (1682), 40. Two pipes of Glass very uneven in length.
1885. Manch. Exam., 14 July, 4/5. Stands are very uneven, and the size of the plant varies from 2 in. to 31/2 ft.
b. Of numbers: Odd. Also of things: Making up, or marked by, an odd number.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 35. Which Plinie accounteth to haue vneauen corners as Pease hath.
1598. Florio, Disparo, vneeuen, or od in number, vnequall.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 173. Nothing ought to be eaten by euen numbers, but by vneuen, where with God is pleased.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 78. Let rauisht Poets drinke thrice three, Of whom the vneuen Muses be Belou’d.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Number, The Sum, or the Difference, of two uneven Numbers, makes an even Number.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Printing, 265. According to the folio either of an even, or uneven page.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 485. Then the triad or number three is uneven.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Uneven pages, pages with odd folios, such as 1, 3, 5, etc.
† 2. Unequitable, unfair, unjust: a. Of acts, etc.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 316. Summe ben too wel fed bi vneuene partyng of here goodis.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxxi. (1495), 922. For euen and vneuen dedes that here ben doon.
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm., ii. 40. If merchaunts … doe inriche themselues by impouerishing others, through deceitfull shifts, the common wealth suffereth dammage by their vneuen dealings.
1613. J. Fletcher, Christ’s Bloody Sweat, 11. By courses indirect and lawes vn-euen, Of will and sensuall lust.
† b. Of persons, etc. Obs.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 104. Þei are vnfeiþful to þer souereyns, vneuyn to þer lowar.
a. 1500. Ratis Raving, Prol. 60. He saw … rychtwysmen and god-lyk baith, With wykyt men & wnewyne lyk scaith.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., III. 392. They are in this their partition, so parciall and vneuen dealers, that they will not leaue to Christ, the whole cleansing of the guilt.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xxi. 780/2. N. D. with his vneuen hand (euer ouerhard to shadow the truth).
1641. Milton, Animadv., 7. Sir Francis Bacon … complaines of the Bishops uneven hand over these Pamflets.
3. Diverging from a straight or exactly parallel position. (In early quots. fig.)
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 30. Thei hemself divide And stonden out of reule unevene. Ibid., II. 126. Among the vices … Ther is yit on … Which al this world hath set unevene.
1639. Ld. Digby, Lett. conc. Relig. (1651), 90. And lines many times that at first appear parallels to the eie … prove apparently uneven.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. ¶ 15. If … the sides of the Sheet lye uneven upon the Tympan-sheet.
1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, i. The windows were uneven.
4. Not smooth or level; irregular, broken, rugged.
a. Of ground, etc.
c. 1275. in O. E. Misc., 75/88. Þe weyes beoþ vn-euene, Wiþ wepynde stefne To helle he schulle þenne.
1565. Cooper, s.v. Inæquabilis, An open place beyng high and low, or vneuen.
1577. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., I. 42 b. Beastes and Poultry … with tramplyng and skraping wyll make it rugged and uneven.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. ii. 26. Eight yards of vneuen ground, is threescore & ten miles afoot with me.
1618. J. Taylor (Water P.), Penniless Pilgr., E 4. The way so vneuen, stonie, and full of bogges.
1653. W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, 91. Aquaries [governs] Hilly and uneven places.
1746. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 440. As we march’d, all the way up hill, and over very uneven Ground, our men were greatly Blown.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), I. 290. In it [sc. the sea bottom] we find the same uneven surface that we do upon land.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-Bks. (1871), II. 199. On the verge and within the crater of an extinct volcano, and therefore … as uneven as the sea in a tempest.
fig. 1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. i. 5. Vneuen is the course, I like it not.
a. 1596. Sir T. More, IV. v. 4. You see the floore of greatnesse is uneuen.
b. In general use.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IV. iii. (1495), e vj b/1. The vtter partyes ben vneuyn wyth holownes sonke and had partes areryd.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 48. For one of them was like an Eagles claw,… The other like a Beares vneuen paw.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. 162. The sorting together of Wools of seueral natures,… which causeth cloth to cockle and be uneven.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xvii. ¶ 2. [He] cuts out what may remain in the bottom of the Shanck by reason of the un-even breaking.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 140. Its Bark is somewhat rugged and uneaven.
1798. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., II. 431. The uneven writing … proved that it was sent while the young man was still fluctuating between life and death.
1810. Crabbe, Borough, xxii. 178. The sun-burnt tar … And bank-side stakes in their uneven ranks.
1855. Poultry Chron., III. 522/1. The upper part of the cell … being more convex; therefore, the comb is very uneven.
absol. 1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 157. Fracture, fine or coarse splintery, which sometimes pass into the uneven of a fine grain.
c. transf. and fig. (of immaterial things, sounds, style, etc.).
OE. unefn, unemn, occurs in similar uses.
(a) 1596. Shaks., Hen. IV., I. i. 50. Farre more vneuen and vnwelcome Newes Came from the North. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., IV. iv. 3. In most vneuen and distracted manner, his actions show much like to madnesse.
1649. Lovelace, Poems (1864), 114. Where is a joy uneven, There never, never can be Heav’n.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 159. Such is the uneven State of human Life.
1763. Scrafton, Indostan, iii. (1770), 76. The uneven temper of the Soubah could never long retain its disguise.
1886. J. J. H. Burgess, Shetland Sketches, etc., i. 48. He … went away down to the house, feeling very sorrowful, and mad, and altogether uneven.
(b.) 1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 50. The horses euill and vneuen going proceedeth of his owne lamenes.
(c) 1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., III. ix. 150. Not only with cold Air, but with any other uneven noise, passing through their Mouth into their Ears.
1731. Pope, Ep. Burlington, 143. Light quirks of Music, broken and uneven.
1811. W. R. Spencer, Poems, Ded. His strain is weak, his voice uneven.
(d) 1763. J. Brown, Poetry & Music, vi. 111. Homer is equal, large, flowing, and harmonious; Eschylus is uneven, concise, abrupt, and rugged.
5. Comb., as uneven-carriaged, -numbered, -roofed, tempered.
1670. Brooks, Wks. (1867), VI. 342. A rotten heart, is a very uneven-carriaged heart.
1882. Contemp. Rev., Aug., 234. The 16 alternate or uneven-numbered sections in all townships.
1887. Hissey, Holiday on Road, i. 3. Weather-stained outbuildings, lichen-laden and uneven-roofed.
1867. Dublin Univ. Mag., LVIII. Dec., 714–5. The reader, hungry or mindful of past hunger, can scarcely blame the uneven-tempered bard for thus denouncing the thievish tribe.
