ppl. a. [UN-1 8. Cf. UNLEARED ppl. a. and OHG. ungelirnêt (MHG. -lernet, lehrnt, G. -lernt).]

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  1.  Not possessed of learning; uninstructed; untaught; ignorant.

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c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xvii. 184. How it semethe to symple men unlerned, that [etc.].

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c. 1420.  Wycliffite Bible (1850), I. 67/2. Bothe of the lerned man and vnlerned.

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14[?].  Lat. & Eng. Prov. (MS. Douce 52), fol. 27. Better is a chylde vnborne þen vnlerned.

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1537.  in Bury Wills (Camden), 131. Because I am rude and vnlernyd, and know not the scriptur.

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1582.  N. T. (Rhem.), Luke x. 21, margin. The humble vnlearned Catholike knoweth Christ better than the proud learned Heretike.

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1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxix. 169. These three opinions … proceeded chiefly from the tongues, and pens of unlearned Divines.

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1699.  Bentley, Phal., 331. Andronicus’s name was prefix’d to it by a Modern and a very Unlearned Hand.

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1765.  Museum Rust., IV. 450. I will now … give a free translation of it for the sake of your unlearned readers.

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1854.  Whittier, Maud Muller, 79. She wedded a man unlearned and poor.

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1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 198. But if you were not wise you were unlearned.

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  b.  spec. (See quots.)

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1643.  Baker, Chron. (1653), 236. Another Parliament…, named the unlearned Parliament, either for the unlearnednesse of the persons, or for their malice to learned men.

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1878.  Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xx. 401. The writs remain uniform until the year 1404, when Henry IV stirred up strife by excluding lawyers from his ‘unlearned parliament’ [at Coventry].

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  2.  absol. Those who have no learning.

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c. 1500.  Babees Bk., etc. (1868), 23/126. In þi dysch sette not þi spone,… os vn-lernyd done.

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1549.  Olde, Erasm. Par. Ephesians, Prol. to Rdr. C ii. To seke the edification of the playne vnlearned.

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1578.  Bible (Geneva), Pref. to Christian Reader. I haue so done for the vnlearneds sake.

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1656.  Stanley, Hist. Philos., V. 50. He useth variety of names, that his work may not easily be understood by the unlearned.

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1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 457, ¶ 4. An Account of the Works of the Unlearned.

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1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Art of Poetry, 644. With all the Horrours of a desperate Muse The Learned and Unlearned he pursues.

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1886.  Fortn. Rev., Oct., 508. We must acknowledge, too, that experts know better than the unlearned.

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  3.  Not skilled or versed in something.

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1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Rudis, Vnlearned in the Greeke tongue.

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c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., cxxxviii, Some vntuterd youth, Vnlearned in the worlds false subtilties. Ibid. (1607), Timon, IV. iii. 56. I know thee well: But in thy Fortunes am vnlearn’d, and strange.

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1725.  Pope, Odyss., IX. 150. Unlearn’d in all th’ industrious arts of toil.

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1833.  Tennyson, To J. S., v. Alas! In grief I am not all unlearn’d.

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1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, viii. Unlearned in the world’s lore which was so familiar to himself!

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  4.  Characterized by want of learning; pertaining to the unlearned class.

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1526.  Tindale, 2 Tim. ii. 23. Folisshe and vnlearned questions.

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1589.  Marprel. Epit., D iij b. His booke is a carnall and vnlearned booke.

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1604.  Herring, Def. Caveat (title-p.), That unlearned and dangerous opinion.

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c. 1657.  Cowley, Ode Dr. Harvey, v. A barb’rous Wars unlearned Rage.

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1785.  Burke, Sp. Nabob Arcot, Wks. IV. 316. The unlearned and vulgar passion of admiration.

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1844.  Stanley, Arnold (1858), II. 146. An unlearned familiarity with the Scriptures.

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1875.  Whitney, Life Lang., x. 187. The unlearned speech of the lower orders.

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  5.  Not acquired by learning. (Cf. UNLEARNT.)

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1534.  Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), C v. That there shuld be nothyng vnlerned of hym, he aboue all sciences sette his mynd to Cosmography.

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1607.  Markham, Cavel., III. i. 4. My first Arte were better vnlearned then for want of this latter to doe euill by misimployment.

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1611.  Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 178. ’Tis wonder That an inuisible instinct should frame them To Royalty vnlearn’d, Honor vntaught.

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1644.  Milton, Educ., 3. Mispending our prime youth … in learning meere words or such things chiefly, as were better unlearnt.

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