v. [UN-2 6 b.] trans. To deprive of saintly character or status.
1572. R. T., Discourse, 29. Thomas Becket, whom King Henry dyd vnsainte, and disgrade.
1594. Zepheria, xiv. No neuer shall that face … Emblemisht be, defaced or unsaynted, Till death shall blot it.
1612. T. James, Corrupt. Scripture, IV. 51. The Master of the sacred Palace hath vnsainted him.
1655. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., I. 114. Satan’s scope in accusing the Christian,… is to unsaint him, and perswade him he is but an hypocrite.
1701. Howe, Some Consid. Pref. Enquiry, 29. Power … to saint themselves, and unsaint all other men, at their own pleasure.
1765. Entick, London, IV. 123. That saint’s bones being … burnt, and unsainted, by the powers in being.
1834. Southey, Doctor, liv. (1848), 122. Most assuredly they ought to be unsainted!
1870. Temple-Bar Mag., XXIX. 136. Young women … mutter in tender tremulous voices, which … might unsaint an anchorite.
Hence Unsainted ppl. a.1
1851. Morier, Adv. Hajji Baba, II. vi. 172. I marvelled how of a sudden I had become such an unsainted lion.
