[OE. unriht (f. un- UN-1 7 + riht RIGHT a.), = OFris. on-, unriucht (WFris. on-, ûnrjucht, NFris. ünrocht), MDu. and obs. Du. onrecht, OS. unreht (MLG. and LG. unrecht, LG. -regt), OHG. (MHG.) unreht (G. unrecht), ON. úréttr (Norw. urett, Da. uret, MSw. orätter, Sw. orätt).]
1. Not right, just, or equitable; improper, unfair, wrong. Now Sc. or arch. (common in 16th c.).
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxviii. § 3. Ic … wundrie forhwy swa rihtwis dema æniȝe unrihte ʓife wille forʓifan.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Thorpe), cxviii. 104. Ic me betst oncneow, þæt ic unrihte weʓas calle of-eode.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 121. Unriht domesmann.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8726. He let grede þoru al þe lond þe vnriȝte lawes vndo.
c. 1375. Cursor M., 26711 (Fairf.). He salle … on domisday haue wreyers harde, þat is to say … þe werlde, þe deuil, his didis vnriȝt.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., III. xix. 415. Open it is … thilk deede or gouernaunce in him silf is vnriȝt and wrong.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 545/2. [To] walke in the commaundementes of life, & do nothing that is vnright.
1603. J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosmos, 157. These senseless spunges of Improbity Are full of pleasure, but it is vnright.
1627. Bp. Hall, Dauids Ps. Metaphr., i. The man vnright, As chaffe…, With euery blast Is cast on hie.
1856. W. H. Gillespie, Truth Evang. Hist., vii. 129. Such un-right and self-inconsistent deprivation.
1880. G. Macdonald, Diary Old Soul, 16 Feb. If I should slow diverge … Into some thought, feeling, or dream unright.
absol. 1610. H. Broughton, Job xxix. 17. I brake the tuskes of the vnright.
† 2. Incorrect; inexact. Obs. rare.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 32. Amatus gyueth an vnryght duche name vnto Sion when he calleth it bauchbungen.
1591. Wotton, in Reliq. (1685), 641. I … alleg’d further, that the Copy was unright.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., i. 17. So many haue aleaged so many vnright and vnlykely causes thereof.
