a. [UN-1 7.]
† 1. Uncelebrated. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. iii. (1868), 11. Of wyche folk þe renoun is neyþer ouer oolde ne vnsolempne [L. incelebris].
2. Not solemn; lacking in formal gravity.
c. 1555. Harpsfield, Divorce Hen. VIII. (Camden), 124. The power … of that kind of vowe is stronger than in … a single unsolempe vow.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Ductor, I. ii. rule 8 § 30. Conscience can oblige a Judge to an unsolemn absolution.
1825. R. P. Ward, Tremaine, II. 106. The not unsolemn rhythm of the regular trot of the horses.
1885. Law Rep., 14 Q.B.D. 702. A thing … which by the rules of the House is disorderly and unsolemn.
b. Law. Of a will: Informal.
1590. Swinburne, Testaments, 18. Vnsolemne testamentes are so tearmed, whereas the solemnities of the Ciuil law … are omitted.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal (1673), 50. Our lawiers therefore now call those ancient ones ‘solemin testaments,’ as the latter sort unsolemn.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 527. Such a perfect Will may either be a solemn or unsolemn will.
1774. S. Hallifax, Rom. Law, 34. The Privilege of Unsolemn Testaments granted to Soldiers.
1844. H. Tennant, Notary’s Man., ii. 32. The word ‘Codicillus’ or Codicil … denotes any unsolemn last will, in which no heir is named.
Hence Unsolemnly adv.
1821. J. Hodgson, in J. Raine, Mem. (1857), I. 367. He read the prayers very unsolemnly.
