Unsped

ppl. a. [UN-¹ 8 b.] a. Not having succeeded in an errand or effort. b. Not accomplished or discharged; not brought to a successful result or issue.

1

a. 1300. Cursor M., 17596. For-þi þaa Iuus war full medd, Þair sandes come again vn-spedd.

2

1390. Gower, Conf., III. 293. So was he come ayein unsped.

3

c. 1450. Myrr. our Ladye, 82. That prayer … is neuer lefte vnspedde.

4

a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel., xxxviii. (1536), 67 b. Nor for all the affaires of his house, he wolde not leaue one of thempire vnsped.

5

a. 1568. in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Cl.), 617/8. Onsped speche bettir vnspokin be.

6

1624. Quarles, Job XIII. xxiv. To Athens, gown’d, he goes, and … Returnes unsped.

7

1717. Garth, Ovid’s Met., XIV. (1732), 477. Thus Diomedes Venulus withdraws; Unsped the Service of the common Cause.

8

1895. R. Bridges, Ode to Music, IV. iii. When the winds fatigued … Have left the drooping banks unsped.

9