v. [UN-2 3. Cf. MDu. (Du.) ontmaken, OHG. in(t)mahhôn (G. entmachen).]
1. trans. To reverse or undo the making of (some thing or object); to reduce again to an unmade condition.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 11270. He made [nets], & hem vnmade ageyn.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, I. lxiii. (1869), 38. It is a iewell that was … maad … of my fader with oute smytinge of strok…. For noyse and strokes maken it nouht, but tobreken it and vnmaken it.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., vi. So that Prelaty … must be forc’t to dissolve and unmake her own pyramidal figure.
1690. T. Burnet, Theory Earth, II. 132. God does not make or unmake things, to try experiments.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 74, ¶ 11. She compels them to alter their work, then to unmake it.
1857. Emerson, Ode to Beauty, 99 Dread Power!… if God thou be, Unmake me quite, or give thyself to me.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par. (1870), I. I. 339. And now thou knowest in how short a space The God that made the world can unmake thee.
absol. 1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 11416. And thogh that I make & vnmake, Blame me nat.
1821. Byron, Cain, I. i. 142. But, if he made us—he cannot unmake.
b. With immaterial object.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 236. Matrimoigne for monye [they] maken & vnmaken.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, VI. ix. 199. Sum vtheris … That lawis maid and wnmaid, as thaim list.
a. 1536. Tindale, in Marbeck, Bk. of Notes (1581), 746. Who can suffer them…, for their owne profites, to make and vnmake lawes…?
1639. Fuller, Holy War, II. xvii. 67. God will not unmake his miracles by making them common.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), V. 266. When a statute … has been unmade by the authority that made it.
1822. Byron, Juan, VI. lx. In perfect innocence she then unmade Her toilet, which cost little.
1860. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt. Part., III. cxxiv. 77. The study of what has made and unmade military successes.
absol. 1604. Shaks., Oth., II. iii. 352. His Soule is so enfetter’d to her Loue, That she may make, vnmake, do what she list.
1848. Bailey, Festus (ed. 3), 17. Then comes the feeling which unmakes, undoes.
1876. Mrs. Whitney, Sights & Ins., II. 401. Perhaps the very first thing we see that wisdom do, is to unmake and separate, and seem to break and mix yet more.
2. a. To deprive of a particular rank or station; to depose.
1554. Bale, Declar. Bonner’s Articles, xix. 68. He is wonte to make kinges, and to vnmake them again at his plesure.
1567. Jewel, Def. Apol., 413. Saieinge withal, Hee had Power to make Emperours, and to vnmake them.
1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. xiv. 129. An English King hath power … to make and unmake Members [of Parliament] as he shal please.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, I. III. 70. They made and unmade Popes at their pleasure.
1736. Thomson, Liberty, IV. 879. He mark’d the Barons of excessive sway, At pleasure making and unmaking kings.
1808. Mitford, Hist. Greece, IV. 353. He made and unmade there what kings he pleased.
1894. Ld. Wolseley, Life Marlborough, I. 178. Her authority was such, that she could make and unmake ministers.
b. To deprive of a certain character or quality; to alter in nature. Also with compl.
1616. B. Jonson, Epigr., lv. At once thou mak’st me happie, and vnmak’st.
1669. Dryden, Tyrannic Love, III. i. You are so pure—That in the act ’twould change the impiety. Heaven would unmake it sin!
1709. Tatler, No. 66, ¶ 4. To make our Patient any Thing better, we must unmake him what he is.
1710. Shaftesb., Charac. (1711), I. 308. That which we fondly make our Happiness at one time, we may as readily un-make again at another.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, IX. 200. I take her as God made her, and as men Must fail to unmake her.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871), II. 8. Her modest attitude … is partly what unmakes her as the heathen Goddess, and softens her into woman.
3. fig. To undo; to ruin or destroy; to bring to nothing.
1605. Shaks., Macb., I. vii. 54. They haue made themselues, and that their fitnesse now Do’s vnmake you.
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., III. lxxxix. Sure, Thou to guilt, Which would unmake thy creatures, wilt Be just.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 189. To mistrust boundless wisdom, to contrive so, that it might have better been contrived, is to unmake its boundlesness.
1867. Felton, Anc. & Mod. Gr., II. i. 264. If the great powers are going to make a permanent European state out of Turkey, they must unmake the Turk.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., vii. 135. The machine unmakes the man.
4. To annul a decision of (the mind).
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 4. When you have made up your mind to go to West Africa the very best thing you can do is to get it unmade again.
Hence Unmaking vbl. sb.
1591. Percivall, Deshazimiento, vndooing, vnmaking.
a. 1676. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., III. i. (1677), 254. Though he seems to admit Eternal Vicissitudes of such Making, and Unmaking, and Restitutions of the inferior World.
1867. H. Bushnell, Mor. Uses Dark Th., 285. A general unmaking of the world by transgression.
1871. Smiles, Charac., xi. 324. A wife may be the making or the unmaking of the best of men.
