ppl. a. Also 4 north. unkepide, 5 (Sc. 6) unkepit; etc. [UN-1 8, 8 b.]
1. Not attended to; not tended or looked after; neglected.
c. 1340. Hampole, Prose Tr., 28. If þou … latis þame [sc. the feet] spill for defaute of kepynge—unarayede, unkepide, and noghte tente to as þam aughte for to be,—thou pleses Hym noghte.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., XII. 57. Lond vnkept and insolent.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 514. Sho hir childe saw vnkepyd, And wante þat he was wonte to haue.
1469. Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889), 336. That they goo to noon other labore and lewe the gye rope unkepit.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. i. 9. He keepes me rustically at home, or (to speak more properly) staies me heere at home vnkept.
1611. Florio, Incustodito, vnkept, not looked vnto.
b. Unguarded, undefended.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1085. The kyng had no knawlache … Of the folke so furse,… For-þi vnkeppit were þe costes all þe kythe ouer.
1611. Florio, Suadata, open, vnkept, free for all men.
2. Not observed or obeyed; disregarded.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 38. Certis þei … maken hem … to leue holy writt vnstudied, vnknoud & vnkept.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 154. He … is for-sworn, for truthe vnkept & othe brokyn is all on.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, IV. x. 61. Allace! vnkeipit is the trew cunnand.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., IV. xiv. § 5. Many things generally kept heretofore, are now … vnkept and abolished euerywhere.
1623. Sanderson, Serm. (1632), 251. Lawes … are farre better vnmade, then vnkept.
3. Not stored up.
1842. Tennyson, Will Waterproof, 97. Whether the vintage, yet unkept, Had relish fiery-new.
