† 1. Not fair or beautiful; uncomely; disfigured; ugly. Obs.
Beowulf, 727. Him of eaʓum stod liʓʓe ʓelicost leoht unfæʓer.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xli. § 4. Sio ʓefrednes … ne mæʓ ʓefredan hwæðer he bið þe blæc þe hwit, ðe fæʓer ðe unfæʓer.
971. Blickl. Hom., 111. [Him] þincð his neawist laþlico & unfæʓer.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 530. Larbata, se unfæʓera.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22509. Þe sun þat es sa bright … It sal becum þan ful vnfair, Dune and blak sum ani hair.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1572. Þe froþe femed at his mouth vnfayre bi þe wykez.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4864. Rochis & rogh stanes, rokkis vnfaire.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., V. xii. 548. In oon maner of sumwhat foul or vnfair schap and in oon maner of poor and symple colour.
a. 1500. Ratis Raving, I. 1722. Þis eild is wnfair of fassoun, And failȝes of perfectioun.
1648. Hexham, II. Onschoon, Vnfaire, or Vnbeautifull.
† b. Wicked; evil, bad. Obs.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1801. He was corsed for his vnclannes,… Done doun of his dyngnete for dedez vnfayre.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 123. For wnfayr thingis may fall, perfay, Als weill to-morn as ȝhisterday. Ibid., XV. 123. Bot I trow falsat euirmar Sall haue vnfair and euill ending.
2. Not fair or equitable; unjust: a. Of actions, conduct, etc.
1713. Berkeley, Hylas & Phil., II. Wks. 1871, I. 319. This shifting, unfair method of yours.
1746. Wesley, Princ. Methodist, 5. If indeed it were so abridged as to alter the Sense, this would be unfair.
1798. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., II. 98. This conclusion appeared so unfair,… that she burst into tears.
1854. E. FitzGerald, Lett. (1889), I. 229. There was a very unfair Review in the Athenæum.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 185. Riding a well-bred powerful horse, which evidently made little of his somewhat unfair weight.
b. Of persons, the mind, etc.
1724. Waterland, Farther Vind. Christ’s Div., ii. § 15. 57. Sometimes they complain of me as very unfair to take an Advantage of an Opinion of theirs.
1736. Butler, Anal., II. vi. 315. Opportunity to an unfair mind of explaining away … that evidence.
1812. Scott, Lett. to Byron, July, in Lockhart. I do not know the motive would make me enter into controversy with a fair or an unfair literary critic.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. xiii. Who shall call me ungentle, unfair.
c. spec. Not paying the usual rate of wages.
1886. Pall Mall G., 22 Oct., 10/2. To give their printing contract … to what was known in the trade as an ‘unfair house.’
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Unfair offices, this term is applied by society hands generally to those printing offices where the existing scale of prices is not recognized.
3. Of the wind: Unfavorable.
1801. in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1845), IV. 290. If the wind proved fair … they should be sent up the harbour, but if unfair, no time would have been lost.
1802. Naval Chron., VIII. 433. The wind being unfair at S.W.
4. Not fitting or corresponding exactly.
1859. Sir E. Reed, Shipbuild., xix. 415. That drifting unfair holes would be considered bad work.
1874. Thearle, Naval Archit., 58. Great precautions are … necessary to prevent unfair seams in the subsequent operations of laying the deck.
