a. Obs. exc. Sc. [UN-1 7. Cf. NFris. unseker, MDu. onseker (Du. onzeker), MLG. unseker, OHG. unsichûre (MHG. and G. unsicher), MDa. usekker, Da. usikker, Sw. osäker.] Uncertain; unsafe; insecure.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 144. Deað þet we beoð siker of & unsiker hwonne.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 83. Gode ensaumpil may thai lere, Unsikir of thaim self to be.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 9636. Bot þer hap was al vnsyker; For synne of Octa … Dide al his felawes & hym be lorn.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VIII. 327. Þe buldyng uppon … unsiker grounde bygynneþ to slyde.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 41. Thus vnsikir of my smal lyfloode.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XVII. xxiii. 724. Galahad prayed yow to remembre of this vnsyker world.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, IV. v. (S.T.S.), II. 66. He had levir returne to rome with sikkir victorie þan vnsikkir pece of wolchis.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 33. It was wnsickir to comit his lyfe and honoure in the binding wp of bandis witht the Earle of Douglas.
1796. Burns, To Colonel de Peyster, iii. Dame Life,… Oh! flickering, feeble, and unsicker I’ve found her still.
1819. W. Tennant, Papistry Storm’d (1827), 5. Thou … flaff’t thy wings, and in a crack Flew frae th’ unsicker stance!
Hence Unsickerness, uncertainty. Also Unsickerly, unsafely, insecurely.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 9049. Alle þe sykernes þat had Ennoc and Ely … War noght bot als unsykernes.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 287. Þou schalt have … unsikernes … of þy children ende.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 966. Thow saynned the vnsekyrly to seke to these mountez.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 221. A-forn me I se vnsykernes to wyth-stonde feendys þat temptyn me.
a. 1568. in Bannatyne MS. (Hunterian Cl.), 201/55. With wrechitnes wofull away thow wendis; The deid certane, the hour vnsickirnes.
