Unruly

a. (and sb.). Forms: 5–6 vnruely, 6–7 vnrulye, -lie, 6– unruly; 5 onreuli, vnrewely, 6 vnrewly. [UN-¹ 7 + RULY a.²]

  1.  Not amenable to rule or discipline; ungovernable; disorderly, turbulent: a. Of persons.

1400.  R. de Grey, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. I. 4. Hitt woll be an unruely Cuntrie within short tyme.

1422.  Yong, trans. Secreta Secret., 160. When they were full woxen, prowte, onreuli, fiers, and presumpteous.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1559), U ij. Sith the worlde is so chaungeable, and the people so vnruly.

1592.  Greene, Disput., 20. Ouer kind fathers make vnruly daughters.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., Disc., § iv. i. 53. That he should of all others prove the most unruly, who alone has been endowed with Reason to rule himself withall.

a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time, I. iv. (1897), I. 108. The dispersing of that little unruly army.

1781.  Cowper, Tiroc., 262. I blame not those who … O’erwatch the num’rous and unruly clan.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvi. III. 685. William had found it no easy matter to decide what course should be taken with that capricious and unruly body.

1896.  W. K. Leask, H. Miller, 29. He seems rather to have become an unruly lad.

  sb. and absol.  1611.  Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xxii. § 31. 807/1. These vnrulies presently chose him for their ringleader.

1684.  Bunyan, Pilgr., II. (1900), 265. All things must be managed here to … the warning of the Unruly.

1782.  Priestley, Inst. Relig. (ed. 2), I. p. xli. We cannot possibly warn all the unruly.

  transf.  1667.  Dryden, Ind. Emperor, IV. iv. Th’ unruly Sword will no distinction make.

1888.  Barrie, When a Man’s Single, xii. She softly pushed the invalid’s unruly hair off his brow.

  b.  Of animals. Also in fig. context.

1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Bos, Restie or vnrulie oxen.

1577.  Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., 141 b. To keepe the weaker [sheep] … from the strong and vnruly. Ibid., 145. The horned, by reason of theyr weapons, are hurtful, and vnruely.

1627.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Navy of Land Ships, Wks. (1630), 91/1. A ship is an vnruly beast.

1682.  Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Ess. Poetry, 8. The Muses most unruly Horse.

1768–74.  [see UNSHAKEN 2].

a. 1821.  V. Knox, Serm., Wks. 1824, VI. 196. Like the spirited and unruly steed.

  c.  Of the heart, tongue, passions, etc.

1526.  Tyndale, Jas. iii. 8. The tonge can no man tame. Yt is an vnruely evyll full off deedly poyson.

1598.  Barret, Theor. Warres, I. ii. 11. A generous minde, not subiect vnto passions and vnrulie fits.

1612.  T. Taylor, Comm. Titus i. 6. An vnruly heart will breake out one time or other.

a. 1674.  Clarendon, Surv. Leviath. (1676), 239. When his unruly invention suggests to him an addition to the Text.

1712.  Pope, Spect., No. 408, ¶ 7. Young Men whose Passions are not a little unruly.

1729.  Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 40. To imagine he keeps that unruly faculty [sc. the tongue] in due subjection.

1800.  Colquhoun, Comm. Thames, viii. 262. It is impracticable to control their unruly passions.

1846.  Keble, Lyra Innoc. (ed. 3), 293. Nor time nor tune are there, Yet sounds the unruly joy.

  d.  Characterized by disorder or disquiet.

1439.  Cases bef. King’s Council (Selden), 105. Wawton … seid … it is the unruliest session that I haue euer sey in Bedford.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 21. These vnrulye reuels … thee sea king Neptun awaked.

1805.  Wordsw., Prelude, I. 136. The Poet, gentle creature as he is, Hath, like the Lover, his unruly times.

  † 2.  Of things: Unmanageable. Obs.

1577.  Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. 158. When they sitte, with theyr vnruly spurres they breake theyr egges.

1598.  Florio, Dict., To Rdr. 9. A more vnruly … vessell then the biggest hulke on Thames.

1633.  Herbert, Temple, Ch. Porch, xli. Wit’s an unruly engine, wildly striking Sometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer.

1681.  R. Knox, Hist. Ceylon, 9. These Ploughs … if heavier … would sink and be unruly in the mud.

  † 3.  Violent; incurable. Obs.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., VI. vi. 5. Their wounds … had festred priuily, And ranckling inward with vnruly stounds, The inner parts now gan to putrify.

1606.  G. Woodcocke, Lives Emperors, in Hist. Ivstine, K k 6. Dying of an vnruly disease.

  4.  Stormy, tempestuous; impetuous.

1593.  Shaks., Lucrece, 869. Unruly blasts wait on the tender spring; Unwholesome weeds take root. Ibid. (1605), Macb., II. iii. 59. The Night ha’s been vnruly; Where we lay, our Chimneys were blowne downe.

1647.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., V. § 449. The standard itself was blown down … by a very strong and unruly wind.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 396. He makes his way o’er Mountains, and contemns Unruly Torrents, and unfoorded Streams.