1. Not peaceful, tranquil, or orderly; disturbed; not (yet) quietly or firmly established.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. 424. Of winged Clouds the wide inconstant House, Th’ unsettled Kingdome of swift Æolus.
1659. Nicholas Papers (Camden), IV. 265. The new and unsettled Government in England.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, I. 791. My cruel fate, And doubts attending an unsettled state, Force me to guard my coast from foreign foes.
1759. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, I. xi. But the two extremes are more common, and in a greater degree in this unsettled island.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, Mourtray Fam., I. 41. The hurry and unsettled state which … had attended their first arrival in the country.
1826. Scott, Woodst., v. The times were dangerous and unsettled.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., I. vi. 171. A report of a committee concerning the unsettled government of Virginia.
b. Of weather, etc.: Changeable, variable.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 587. If unsettled or moist Weather happen at the time of its working.
1773. Cook, Voy. (1777), I. 59. The wind continued unsettled.
1803. Mary Charlton, Wife & Mistress, IV. 114. His health, which was yet very unsettled.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xvi. 255. The weather was too unsettled for his fleet … to join him.
Comb. 1788. J. White, Jrnl. Voy. N.S. Wales (1790), 105. Strong breezes, with unsettled-looking weather.
c. That has not yet settled down; still in a state of flux or motion.
1691. J. Harrington, Introd., in Wood’s Ath. Oxon., II. a i b. The Graces of Measure and numbers … are not to be expected in a rude and unsettled Language.
1845. J. Phillips, Geol., in Encycl. Metrop., VI. 552/1. [Remains of plants] might be long suspended in the unsettled water, and be transported along with the finer matter.
1894. Mrs. Dyan, Man’s Keeping (1899), 100. The dust flying in unsettled clouds about him.
2. Not settled in a particular place or position.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., II. vi. § 3. To set himselfe in an house of cedar trees, and to behold the arke of the Lord’s couenant vnsetled.
1729. T. Innes, Crit. Ess. (1879), 284. The Francs … appear in history as a people unsettled, roving up and down.
1761. Churchill, Rosciad, 988. Next follows Sheridan—a doubtful name, As yet unsettled in the rank of Fame.
1782. Martyn, Geog. Mag., I. iii. I. 205. A considerable encampment of these unsettled Arabs.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., II. 212. These tribes have forester’d the fruitful zone, Their seats unsettled, and their name unknown.
1863. Boyd, Graver Th. Country Parson, vii. 106. They were a race of hunters; unsettled, cruel and deceitful.
1896. Harper’s Mag., XXIII. 26/1. I am a single woman, unsettled as yet.
b. Path. Not confined to a definite part or spot.
1793. Abernethy, Surg. Ess., 18. He was … teized with unsettled rheumatic pains.
1819. Lady Morgan, Autobiog. (1859), 267. A severe illness, arising … from unsettled gout.
3. Not settled or staid in character; of a restless or turbulent disposition.
1594. Selimus, 823. Resolue to venture it, Fortune doth fauour euery bold assay, And t’were a trick of an vnsetled wit Because [etc.].
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 66. All th’ vnsetled humors of the Land, Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries.
1607. Puritan, I. iv. 31. Many desprate, vnsetled souldiours.
1675. Han. Woolley, Gentlewom. Comp., 38. These unstaid dimensions argue unsetled dispositions.
1803. Censor, 1 July, 84. I am sorry you seem so unsettled; I now … advise you to settle in service.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., II. 63. Young people, who might be ‘unsettled’; that is, not sufficiently subservient. Ibid., III. 136. Too many of them are unsettled, reckless, slovenly.
b. Marked by absence of regularity, uniformity, staidness, or tranquillity.
c. 1714. Pope, Lett. (1735), I. 150. What is commonly called an unsettled Life (and what you with too much unjust Severity call a Vagabond Life).
1787. Burns, Lett. to Jas. Smith, 11 June. Should I stay, in an unsettled state, at home, I would only dissipate my little fortune.
1824. Miss L. M. Hawkins, Annaline, I. 307. High compassion called forth at her unsettled and forlorn condition.
1825. Lamb, Mr. Liston, Wks. 1908, I. 315. The orthography varying, according to the unsettled usage of the times.
1830. Forrester, II. 270. I have already told you … of the unsettled life I led, after the loss of my mother.
c. Unsteady; unquiet.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxviii. She … then viewed the face with a long unsettled gaze.
1810. Southey, Kehama, XV. xii. How often did she … from unsettled slumber start, and hear The Winds that moan above!
4. Undetermined, unresolved.
1593. Marlowe, Lucan, I. 264. Now light had quite dissolu’d the mysty night, And Cæsars mind vnsetled musing stood.
1600. Hakluyt, Voy., III. 667. The Spaniard is not so simple, vnsetled & vncertaine in his determinations, as … to make our papers his Bulwarks.
1618. Gainsford, Hist. P. Warbeck, ¶ 27. Such humility … won the hearts of many as yet unsettled unto him.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 326. Uncertain and unsettl’d [he] still remains, Deep verst in books and shallow in himself.
a. 1768. Secker, Serm. (1770), IV. 2. What the prophet Elijah said to the Israelites belongs equally to all of this unsettled Character: How long halt ye between two Opinions?
1823. Mrs. Hemans, Siege of Valencia, v. Ere yet th’ unsettled heart hath closed its long Impatient conflicts.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 360. The chiefs came in an unsettled state of mind, and showed at first much opposition to the conclusion of a treaty.
5. Of the mind: Unbalanced, disturbed.
1611. Shaks., Temp., V. i. 59. A solemne Ayre, and the best comforter To an vnsetled fancie.
1693. Dryden’s Juvenal, xiv. (1697), 353. It shews a manifest unsetled Brain.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 141, ¶ 2. A combination of circumstances acting when his imagination was unoccupied, and his judgment unsettled.
1779. Mirror, No. 17. Such violent procedure might have effects too dreadful upon a brain which … is already much unsettled.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 180. Accounts perplex’d,… My mind unsettled, and my will unmade.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, xxvii. Is his brain unsettled,… or is there some dreadful mystery in these broken words?
b. Of persons: Mentally affected.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 325. Do’st thinke I am so muddy, so vnsetled, To appoint my selfe in this vexation?
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ., Maria. She said, she was unsettl’d much at that time.
1823. S. Rogers, Italy, Foscari, 121. Unnerved, and now unsettled in his mind.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 107/1. A failure so annoyed him, that he became unsettled,… and at length died by his own hand.
6. a. Not assigned by will.
1671. Shadwell, Humourists, III. Your Estate, by being unsettled, may come to be divided among the Lawyers, after I have killed you.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, Mourtray Fam., II. 232. You shall not … command a sixpence of my fortune, which I shall keep unsettled, as a check upon you.
b. Undischarged, unpaid.
1811. Regul. & Orders Army, 214. The Nature of the Claims of any Man which remain unsettled.
1816. ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, II. 53. Here parcels of unsettl’d bills.
c. Not determined or fixed; not freed from doubt or uncertainty; undecided.
1844. J. S. Mill (title), Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy.
1857. Ruskin, Pol. Econ. Art, ii. § 65. I haven’t made up my mind about the number yet, and there are several other points in the system yet unsettled.
1884. Imp. Dict., s.v., An unsettled dispute.
7. Not occupied by settlers.
1724. [see UNSEATED ppl. a. 1].
1788. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), I. 617/2. This immense extent or unappropriated western territory, or vacant unsettled land.
1859. Cornwallis, Panorama New World, I. 154. Those occupying runs in the then ‘unsettled’ districts.
1869. Froude, Short Stud., Educ. (1871), 328. A new and unsettled country.
Hence Unsettledly adv.
1599. James I., Βασιλικον Δωρον (1603), 115. Neither looking sillely, like a stupide pedant, nor unsetledly.
1651. Culpepper, Astrol. Judgem. Dis., Ep. A 3 b. That so you may … not float unsetledly upon the waves of Errour.
1685. Case of Doubting Conscience, 4. The Ballance no longer hangs in aequilibrio, or moves unsetledly this way or that.
1725. N. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq. (1878), I. 72. Whenever any one that is your Superior speaks to you,… look neither … saucily, malapertly, nor unsettledly.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. vii. If I thought you were unfortunate in former undertakings,… which might cause you to live unsettledly.
