Unspotted

ppl. a. [UN-¹ 8.]

  1.  Not marked with spots; free from any spot or stain.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 Pet. i. 19. Bi the precious blood of the lomb vndefoulid and vnspottid.

1446.  Lydg., Nightingale Poems, i. 185. The lombe vnspotted, the grounde of Innocence.

1567[?].  Stowe, in Three 15th C. Chron. (Camden), 143. About that tyme [1567] were many congregations of the Anabaptysts in London, who cawlyd themselvs Puritans or Unspottyd Lambs of the Lord.

1626.  Bosworth, Arcadius & Sepha, II. 219. The tables did unspotted carpets hold Of Tyrian dyes.

1643.  (title) The Parliaments Unspotted-Bitch: in answer to Prince Roberts Dog.

1709.  Addison, Tatler, No. 97, ¶ 2. Her beauty was natural and easy, her Person clean and unspotted.

1743.  Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, II. v. 24. Like the Moon’s unspotted Light, O’er the Waves.

1804.  Shaw, Gen. Zool., V. 73. Unspotted Salmon, Salmo Immaculatus.… Salmon with unspotted body.

1835.  J. Duncan, Beetles (Nat. Libr.), 220. The head, thorax, and scutellum are velvet black, and unspotted.

1870.  Hooker, Stud. Flora, 353. Leaves lanceolate acute unspotted.

  2.  Not morally stained; unblemished, pure: a. Of persons, the mind, etc.

c. 1400.  Found. St. Bartholomew’s (1923), 48. She … myghtly troid them vndir foit, vnspottid euermore abidyng.

c. 1450.  Myrr. our Ladye, 140. Sonne of the clene and vnspotted vyrgyn.

1526.  Tindale, Jas. i. 27. To kepe hym silfe vnspotted from the worlde.

1576.  Gascoigne, Kenelw. Castle, Wks. 1910, II. 108. The stately tower of your unspotted myndes.

1629.  Prynne, Anti-Armin., 84. Being thus rescued from the power of sinne, may they keepe themselues vnspotted from it.

1709.  Addison, Tatler, No. 75, ¶ 4. My Sister Jenny … is as unspotted a Spinster as any in Great Britain.

1743.  Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, I. xxiv. 9. Modesty, unspotted Maid, And Truth in artless Guise array’d.

1812.  Crabbe, Tales, vi. 346. A heart unspotted, and a life unblamed.

1863.  Conington, Horace, Odes, I. x. 17. Thou lay’st unspotted souls to rest.

  b.  Of character, qualities, etc.

1455.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 280/2. Alwey kepyng oure trouthe to his said Highnesse unspotted and unbrused.

a. 1568.  Ascham, Scholem., II. (Arb.), 87. The vnspotted proprietie of the Latin tong,… whan it was … at the hiest pitch or all perfitenesse.

1579.  Spenser, Two Commend. Lett., i. ad fin. The … inuiolable Memorie of our vnspotted friendshippe.

1638.  M. Griffith, in Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), I. 160. Christendome cannot shew in one person … a more Angelical Life, unspotted of y^e Worlde & the Flesh.

1665.  Bunyan, Holy Citie, 73. The twelve Apostles, in their own pure, primitive, and unspotted Doctrine.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 276, ¶ 2. I am a Woman of an unspotted Reputation.

1772.  Priestley, Inst. Relig. (1782), II. 132. A being of unspotted purity.

1841.  Browning, Pippa Passes, II. 136. Never to overtake the rest of me, All that, unspotted, reaches up to you.

  Hence Unspottedly adv.; Unspottedness.

1598.  Florio, Puramente, purely, cleanlie, *vnspottedlie.

1602.  F. Hering, Anat., 6. He may religiously, vnspottedly, and charily, preserue the precious health and life of man.

1598.  Florio, Purità, puritie, clenlines, neatenes, *vnspottednes.

1624.  Donne, Devotions, etc. (ed. 2), 303. Doeth the Son dwell bodily in this flesh, that thou shouldst looke for an unspottedness here?

1682.  Ingelo, Bentiv. & Ur. (ed. 4), IV. 156. The unspottedness of our Virgin-life.

1706.  trans. Liger’s Compl. Florist, 273. A violation of the candor and unspottedness of her Manners.

1828.  T. Brown, Serm., 86. Valens spared Paulinus out of respect to the unspottedness of his life.