1. The act or process of unsettling.
1648. Fairfax, etc., Remonstr., 8. To entertain motions tending to the unsettlement of what you had resolved.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., p. iv. Whoever attempts the settlement of any Question, which would be the unsettlement of any mens Interest [etc.].
1844. Ld. Brougham, A. Lunel, III. xiv. 106. The universal unsettlement of all received ideas, and ancient opinions.
1862. Trollope, N. Amer., I. 221. Delay in travelling … causes the unsettlement of a settled purpose.
2. Unsettled state or condition.
1650. Baxter, Saints’ R., IV. i. § 4. They have … lived in much trouble and unsettlement, and have just overcome them.
1655. Nicholas Papers (Camden), II. 281. The yet great vnsetlement in England.
1681. Treat. E. India Trade, 10. Our Neighbours are not now at leasure … to make their Advantage of our Unsettlement, during the Transition from one Stock to another.
1867. H. W. Wilberforce, in Ess. Relig. & Lit., II. 342. A general spirit of unsettlement and presumption.
1875. E. White, Life in Christ, xxviii. V. 492. A not uncommon feeling is that … ‘the faith’ is of such a quality that reasoning upon it … is likely to lead to unsettlement.
