1382. Wyclif, Matt. iii. 12. Chaffis he shal brenne with fyr unquenchable.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, III. lxiii. 147. Þei þat … brennen in an unquenchable fire of charite.
1535. Coverdale, Luke iii. 17. He … shal burne the chaffe with vnquencheable fyre.
1565. Calfhill, Answ. Martiall’s Treat. Cross, To Rdr. 2. To burne in hell wyth flames vnquenchable.
1627. Hakewill, Apol., IV. xiv. § 4. 462. That [fire] burneth eternally without feeding, and is vnquenchable.
1652. Vaughan, Mount of Olives, Wks. 1914, I. 169. Those furious and unquenchable burnings of hell (which the Scripture calls the lake of fire, &c.).
1741–2. Gray, Agrippina, 128. The spark Unquenchable, that glows within their breasts.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XVII. 107. Fierce as Vulcan’s fire Unquenchable.
1811. Lamb, Genius of Hogarth, Wks. 1908, I. 106. Her unquenchable spark is not utterly out.
1825. Macaulay, Ess. Milton, ¶ 50. Those mighty principles … have kindled an unquenchable fire in the hearts of the oppressed.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, XVI. II. 119. The eager enemy hurled the blazing brands…, and wrapped the stern in flames Unquenchable.
b. Of thirst, hunger, or greed.
1567. Jewel, Reply Harding, 735. The Pope … beinge diseased … with an vnquencheable thirst of monie.
1577. Holinshed, Hist. Scot., I. 62/2. Hee was giuen to suche vnquenchable couetyse that nothing mighte suffice hym.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. ii. § 5. 204. Thus vnquenchable is the thirst of ambition.
1723. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 186. By these things he raised an unquenchable thirst in me.
1795. Southey, Maid of Orleans, II. 71. Often impatiently to quench their thirst Unquenchable, large draughts of molten gold They drink insatiate.
1857. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. xix. 273. The more unquenchable his hunger for the high and the good, the sooner will be find that out.
1901. Trowbridge, Lett. Mother to Eliz., x. 51. Her thirst for information is apparently unquenchable.
c. In other contexts. (Common in recent use.)
a. 1586. Sidney, Defence of Earl of Leicester, Wks. 1923, III. 65. An evident proof of an unquencheable malice.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1422. The people on thir Holy-days Impetuous, insolent, unquenchable.
1805. Wordsw., Prelude, I. 184. Firm devotion, zeal unquenchable.
1859. Mill, Liberty, iv. 164. Polygamy … seems to excite unquenchable animosity when practised by persons who speak English.
1883. Harper’s Mag., April, 696/2. There is just the same unquenchable interest here.
Hence Unquenchableness.
1627. H. Burton, Baiting Pope’s Bull, 63. Wee pray God, that wee neuer come to feele the fierie vnquenchablenesse of it.
1629. in Hakewill, Apol. (1630), Advts. Y y 4 b. Visiting him [sc. a bled man] I was amazed to see the vnquenchableness of this fire.
